A Vacation With Demons
by Saiyan Huntress
Summary: The Outer Scouts accidentally get teleported to the Dragonball Earth. It shouldn't be THAT hard to get back home, right...? o.O The story also contains flying tables, haunted houses and bike races :3 Enjoy
1. Back home

_Note by author: Although this fanfiction is an independent story with its own storyline and places of action, it's also continuing my latest fanfic, "Too many Saiyans in __Tokyo__". I wrote that one quite a long time ago and considered it done but lately got a few more ideas for a completely new story… so here it is. _

_A short summary of current situation: Bulma built a space pod; Trunks and Goten used it to fly to our Earth, landing in __Tokyo__. Later their fathers followed them with the instant translocation technique. Along with the Outer Scouts they fought a demon from another dimension and managed to send it to the Dead Zone. Now the Saiyans are spending a partly unwanted vacation in Haruka's house since due to a magnetic storm they're unable to return…but the demon isn't defeated yet…_

_Enjoy…:3_

**Chapter 1 – Back home**

The weather in Tokyo had been extremely bad for the past few weeks. Every now and then a cold breeze whizzed by, bringing sudden showers and occasional thunderstorms with it. People preferred to stay indoors and watch TV. In case they didn't have to go to work or school. It was quite sad to see all those men and women struggling through heavy rain. The children, however, had a great time. So many puddles and streams for toy sail boats! Wheee!

A small wooden house in the suburbs of the huge city seemed just like every other house in the neighborhood. Only that it currently had three Sailor Scouts and four Saiyan warriors living in there. For seven no-so-very-ordinary people their life in that house was still quite ordinary.

In a certain way…

"Vegeta!" a young girl with ultramarine hair shouted. "Didn't you go training in Northern Japan a few days ago?"

The mighty Saiyan prince came into the living room with a half-eaten chicken leg in his hand. "Yeah. Why?"

The girl pointed at the TV set. "In today's news they say that a huge crater was discovered in the uninhabited part of Hokkaido. The locals say that they had heard loud bangs and seen bright lights around that area. No falling meteorites were spotted. Any ideas how the crater got there?"

Vegeta shrugged. "A Saiyan needs to train in order to keep his reflexes and muscles in shape. Not my fault that humans get scared so easily..."

Trunks entered the room, soaking wet as a kitten. "Hey Dad, hey Michiru, what gives?"

Michiru glared at him. "Your dad's trying to blow my home planet up. And **you** are quite obviously trying to catch pneumonia or something. Have you been playing in the backyard again?"

The kid rolled his eyes. "It's so boring indoors… nothing to do… and if you think I'm wet, you should see Goten. He fell into a puddle again."

Michiru took a deep breath and then sighed. "Your mommas must be really glad not having you around for… almost two weeks now, eh?"

Trunks nodded. It was really already two weeks since a small space pod containing two half-Saiyans had hit the ground in a forest near Tokyo. A few days later the boys' fathers followed them using the instant translocation technique. Due to a magnetic storm, they had been unable to return home. Now the storm was long over but the Saiyans really enjoyed their unwanted vacation and their hosts didn't mind having them around either. Just Michiru had more laundry to do than ever.

* * *

One of the rooms in that house was dark. Even though there were many lamps in there, none of them was switched on. A pale, slim girl with short black hair was sitting on the bed. Her eyes were empty and terrified. She was Sailor Saturn, the Sailor Scout of Death, the most mysterious one of the Soldiers. She had many strange abilities and right now she really wished that she wouldn't have at least one of them.

She had just had a vision.

* * *

Goten pranced into the room. "Hey Michiru, hey Vegeta, look! I fell into a puddle again!" He was really a lot wetter than his buddy. Michiru silently pointed at a towel that was hanging on the doorknob. The boy grabbed it and wrapped himself in, announcing in a muffled voice: "And by the way, Haruka's back."

"It's about time," Michiru remarked. Haruka had left in the morning for a motocross race and now it was around three o'clock already.

"Hey everybody…" Haruka entered the room and stretched her back. "Wow, you have no idea what the weather is like out there! I haven't seen such a storm in years."

The others stared at her. Haruka looked like a living mud sculpture. Her clothes were covered with huge dirt stains, her blonde hair was dripping wet and her face could have proudly belonged to a very dedicated car mechanic.

"The bike's mudguards are old," the girl explained with a grin and put her bike helmet on the cupboard. A small dirt puddle appeared around it..

"How was the race?" Goten asked, sticking his head out of the towel wrap.

"Cancelled… they didn't want to hold the race with such weather. Sad, actually. But there'll be other races."

Michiru got up and confronted Haruka, staring right into her marine blue eyes. "And when the race was cancelled, where were you for five hours and how come you look like an undertaker, if I may ask?"

The other girl grinned a bit sheepishly. "Well, you see… since I was already there, I wanted to see how well I could race in such conditions… rode the whole track through. And I only fell twice, y'know," she added quickly, seeing the annoyed gleam in Michiru's eyes.

Michiru turned around and sighed again, rolling her eyes. "You will always be the same, or what? Go get changed. And by the way, the fridge is almost empty, we need to go shopping."

Trunks and Goten hopped up. "Oh boy! Shopping! Can we get potato chips? Please??"

"First we need to get to the mall without getting soaked," the girl replied.

"I'll go take a shower and then go pull the roof on the Porsche," Haruka smirked. "Just hold on for fifteen minutes."

* * *

"Hotaru, we're going to the mall. Don't you want to come?" Michiru opened the door to the dark room. Hotaru blinked, looked up and quickly shook her head.

"No… no thanks Michiru. I need to stay here and think of a few things…" The other girl nodded and closed the door.

* * *

"Ohboyohboyohboy, I **love** shopping!" Trunks stated merrily, hopping round the shopping cart. "You can always smuggle so much junk food into the cart without your parents even noticing it before the cash register. And I've never been into this mall here before, there seem to be so many yummy things here… ooh look, gum worms!"

Haruka grabbed the kid's jacket sleeve. "Hold your horses, kiddo. I'm not your mommy and since your dad hasn't proposed me yet, I don't think this will happen anytime soon either." She took a king-size pack of potato chips from the cart and pushed it into Trunks's arms. "Take this one back. Fast. In Saiyan tempo. And get a pack of cornflakes instead… these at least have a nutritive value of some sort."

Trunks pouted and wandered away. "But those chips are _so_ delicious…"

Haruka rolled her eyes. Suddenly she blinked. Her eyes narrowed, she seemed concentrated for a second… then she smiled and pushed the shopping cart to the next isle.

"Hello, Uranus. What do you think, peas or soy beans?" A tall, beautiful woman with long dark green hair was standing in front of the shelf, holding two tin cans in one hand and a long scepter in the other.

"Soy beans are always better." Haruka stepped closer. "What are you doing here, Pluto?"

The woman turned around. "I have a message for you Saiyans. That means all of you – where's that funny-looking guy with spiky hair?"

Haruka's eyes flashed. "Trying to smuggle marshmallows into the cart, that's where." Goku, who had been crouching behind the cart, got up very quickly and made a classical I-didn't-do-it face. "What's the message?"

"An old friend of mine, Karin-sama, I think you Saiyans know him," Pluto put the cans away and confronted the others, "called me earlier this day and told me that your wives," she nodded at Goku and Vegeta, "want me to give you a very important notice. I think it sounded something like "get your sorry butts back home as soon as you get this message or you will pay a **_very_** high price"… but I'm not sure about all the profanities in that sentence. I may have missed a word or two..." She turned to the shelf again and frowned. "Wow, canned tomatoes have gone a lot more expensive."

Goku scratched his head. "We've really been away from our homes for quite a long time already, or what?"

Vegeta nodded thoughtfully. "I don't understand why they're so upset though… we were supposed to be training in the mountains one way or another."

"In the mountains or on another planet, I'd say that there's a small difference," Michiru remarked.

Trunks pouted. "I don't wanna go home yet…"

Vegeta gave him a glance. "Have you forgotten that school starts next week? That woman's right. I think we should lead towards home. It's been rather nice here but I say that we'll leave today."

"Right after dinner," Goku, Goten and Trunks demanded.

Haruka grinned. "Setsuna, we're running out of Senzu powder. Would you remember that when you visit Karin-sama the next time?"

The woman smiled slightly and nodded. "Will be done. If you'll excuse me now…" She took a can of soy beans and left towards the cash register.

* * *

"Wow, that was a great meal!" Trunks announced happily and patted his stomach. "I'm stuffed!"

Haruka peered into the empty jar of Senzu powder and threw it into the kitchen sink. "You're welcome. Who's gonna wash the dishes today?"

"You," Vegeta replied and stood up, "because we're going home now. Right, Kakarot?" He looked over his shoulder right into Goku's eyes. The Saiyan warrior blinked in confusion.

"Uhm, right. Now? I kinda thought that it would be nice… uhm… you know… digest a little before we leave…? Travelling with my stomach full always makes me teleport-sick… and "Pokémon" starts in half an hour… uhm, yeah, now. Okay. No problem. Yus. Now. Come on here, kids." He put his fingers against his forehead and tried to concentrate.

"Too much magical aura in this house," he declared. "No wonder, when this green-haired woman pops in and out so often… let's go outside."

The four Saiyans gathered together in front of Haruka's house as the three girls backed away. The storm had calmed down for a little while although the sky was still dark grey and a small thunderbolt struck quite nearby, predicting yet another shower very soon.

"Bye Haruka, bye Michiru, byebye Hotaru!" Trunks waved at the three. "It's been really great!"

"Yeah, thanks for everything!" Goten added and grinned widely.

Vegeta snorted. "Why don't we all cry and hug each other now so that the precious little goodbye would be perfect? Kakarot, are you going to do this teleport thing _before_ the next century comes?"

Goku nodded. "I found Gohan's aura. Bye, you three… I'll miss you." He closed his eyes and activated all his senses for a transport through that huge distance between the two planets.

A bright light flashed in front of everyone's eyes. They were blinded for several seconds and felt like floating in the air. The odd feeling disappeared as quickly as it had come.

Vegeta was the first one who opened his eyes. He saw a huge green meadow with hills, forests and the buildings of a big city looming in the distance. Goku, Goten and Trunks were a few feet away, sitting on the grass and looking very surprised as they risked opening their eyes too.

"I'm pretty damn sure that the instant translocation has never felt like _floating_," Goku slowly said. "Did anyone else see that bright flash too?"

"Yeah," Trunks agreed. "And we're not in the Capsule Corporation's main building either. Maybe something went wrong…?"

"**Maybe**?" The Saiyans turned their heads to see Haruka getting up and looking around with a grim frown. "Gee, that's a very interesting theory you have here. Now what if I'd claim that everything is in perfect order at the moment??"

"Drop the sarcasm already, Haruka." Michiru got up too and looked at her sky blue dress. "Phew, no grass stains. Got lucky this time… does anyone know where we are?"

Vegeta pointed at the city in the distance. "That thing over there is most definitely Western Capital. Two minutes' flight. Something may have gone wrong with the translocation but at least we didn't end up on some lifeless moon in the other side of the Universe." He placed his hands on the hips and glared at Goku. "And ideas about how this happened?"

Goku shrugged and spent a second on concentrating. "Chichi's in Capsule Corporation's main building. Let's all go there and then see about it. I'm sure Bulma can find an explanation for it. Whadda you think, girls?"

"Do we have a choice?" Michiru asked back. She looked around. "Hotaru? Where are you?"

"Right here." The pale girl appeared from behind a bush. "Once we're already here, we might as well do a little sightseeing. I'm sure it's not impossible to get back home."

Haruka sighed quietly.

"Let's go then."


	2. Settling in is hard

**Chapter 2 – Settling in is hard…**

"I might even get used to all that flying," Michiru muttered as the Western Capital's high towers slid closer and closer.

"It's a little bit creepy in the beginning," Goten agreed, "but in time you'll realize that it's really a lot of fun. Wheee!" He made a somersault in the air. Michiru squealed.

"Could you _please_ wait with that until you've put me down?"

Vegeta, who was flying in front of everyone else, looked back over his shoulder. "It's nice to see that you're so merry," he remarked with a grin, "because you're about to meet your mommy and I doubt she's very thrilled about your little tourism trip."

Goten blinked. "Uh-oh…"

"There it is!" Trunks shouted at the same moment. "We're back home! Yay!"

The Saiyans landed in front of a yellow hemispheric building. The three girls stretched their backs.

"Home, sweet home," Vegeta said thoughtfully. "Kakarot, is that your son up on the balcony?"

Goku looked up. "Yeah! Gohan! Hey Gohan! Down here!" He waved frantically.

The guy sitting on the balcony blinked, looked around and then noticed the small group down on the lawn. He hopped up and leaped over the edge, landing in front of the others.

"Dad! And Goten! How did you get back? Mom's been worried sick, I'm sure that she's really happy to see you two again."

"She was exactly as worried when I went to play with Trunks one day and got back when the sun was about to set," Goten whispered to Haruka and Michiru. "She was about to call the police when I entered the house… and then she left me without dinner for making her worry like that."

Haruka smirked. "In that case it looks like you'll have to starve to death…"

"Where's Chichi now?" Goku asked, peering around.

"Upstairs, sleeping… we fed her about a pound of sleeping pills," Gohan replied. "Who are these three?" He had just noticed the Sailor Soldiers.

Vegeta went though the formalities so quickly that it could've driven any diplomat insane. "These are Haruka, Michiru and Hotaru, we stayed in their house, where's my wife?"

"At least it sounds like you've missed me." A woman with oily dungarees and bright blue hair came towards them. "That's sweet… so you finally decided to show your faces, eh? Or did your conscious just remind you that there's trash that needs to be taken out and the dishes have been piling up?"

Vegeta grinned widely. "You wish."

Bulma shrugged. "So much for love…" Trunks and Goten chortled quietly. Bulma looked straight into Haruka's eyes. "So, they stayed at your place?" The girl nodded.

"How much did they eat?" Bulma asked.

"Uhm…" Haruka scratched her head. "Five hundred pounds of all food groups, more or less."

The woman laughed. "I owe you one, buddy." She looked at Vegeta. "Any specific reason why you brought them with you?"

"Let's get inside and I'll explain everything," the prince answered.

* * *

"That's funny," Bulma mumbled as she had heard the whole story. "I'm pretty sure that it wasn't Goku's fault, however. Something must have gone wrong… within the dimensions… or the Space and Time… I'll have to examine that before I can give you the answer." 

"You're going to examine the Space and Time?" Michiru asked. They were all sitting in one of the house's living room. Chichi was now awake, gone through all the phases of happy reunion and was sitting on the couch hugging Goten so tightly that the kid's face had quite an interesting shade of purple.

"Ehehe… not exactly a simple task, yeah," Bulma agreed. "But I'm sure I can figure something out."

"She can always figure something out," Trunks announced proudly.

Michiru leaned forward. "I'm sure that you can do something about it but to be honest, that's none of our business any more. Can you find a way for getting us back home? We're really a bit more interested in **that**."

"The Dragonballs," Bulma replied instantly. "They'd help you back home. But…"

"There's _always_ a "but"," Haruka remarked with a frown.

"The last wish that was made with the Dragonballs," Bulma continued calmly, "was made a bit more than three months ago. You see, every time the magical crystal balls are used, they lose their powers for a certain while. Four months, to be exact. Right now the crystal balls don't have more magic in them than a fried onion, so you'll have to wait for," she muttered something quietly, trying to remember a few things, "about three weeks."

Haruka blinked. Michiru sighed quietly. Hotaru looked out of the window and then glanced at Bulma.

"Can we stay here until then?" she asked.

Bulma smiled. "Of course. We're always happy to have visitors."

Haruka looked at Hotaru. "It's not that simple. Three weeks is quite a long time. Those Saiyans can afford some tourism but our home planet **needs** us once in a while, remember? Yeah, yeah, I know that Usagi is the leader of the Sailor Soldiers, the past of Neo Queen Serenity and so on and so on but honestly, do you really think that she's able to fight all the demons without us being around for three weeks?"

Michiru shrugged. "There are also the Inner Scouts…"

Haruka snorted. "Oh please. A fistful of airheads. They were doing fine when the enemies weren't that strong but now the challenges have grown a **_lot_**." She stood up and went to the window. "I'm concerned… and there's nothing we can do." Suddenly she turned around and looked at Bulma. "Aren't there any other ways – _any_ ways that wouldn't take three weeks? Those two brats spent only three days flying to our planet."

The woman nodded. "True, but you have to understand that it was a great coincidence. The distance between these two planets is huge and that space pod crushed straight into yours accidentally. Right now your Earth has moved around the sun for many times and so has ours. They both spin around. The galaxies move. The Universe moves too. What are the odds that another spaceship sent in the same direction reaches the same spot again? I don't even know the coordinates of your planet. In short, I think that flying through space is out of the question. Making another spaceship, especially one big enough for three, is gonna take at least a month. I suggest not trying Goku's instant translocation either until I've found out what the problem was."

Haruka sighed and nodded. Hotaru looked at her with a thoughtful frown. She had something on her mind.

"What about Setsuna?" she suddenly asked.

Haruka shook her head. "If I knew where to find her… and how to survive her two-hours-long lecture about how forbidden space and time travels are."

Michiru tried to comfort her. "In case something really dangerous and undefeatable breaks loose on Earth, she may very well come down here to get us. Until then… let's just enjoy our unwanted vacation, shall we?"

A slight echo of a smile appeared on Haruka's face. "Yeah… yeah, I think you're right."

* * *

"I _really_ think that this room is a bit too… **_much_** for me," Hotaru said in surprise, looking at the vast room Bulma had given to her. The room was in the southern side of the house, it had bright yellow walls and a huge rectangle-shaped window. The place was very clean and filled with sunshine… and very _nice_. 

"Don't you have a, well, darker room for her?" Michiru asked Bulma. "She really doesn't like the light."

Bulma laughed. "Nonsense. Look how skinny and pale she is. What she needs is a lot of sunshine and warm climate and I can assure you that we have plenty of both here in the Western Capital."

The Sailor Soldier of Death blinked and stared at the huge bed's lemon yellow blanket that had a smiling bunny face on it. Bulma patted her on the shoulder.

"Don't worry, you'll feel just like home here," she said merrily. "Come on along, you two, I'll show you your rooms."

The rooms she gave to Haruka and Michiru were just as spacey, bright and yellow. "Feels like living in a huge pot of honey," Haruka commented.

"The view is great," Michiru remarked with admiration, looking out of the window. "I can make an incredible painting here. Realistic and fantastic in the same time… all those palm trees and futuristic round skyscrapers… and still just an ordinary city panorama. And the light is just _great_." She sighed. "Amazing. Bulma, could you get me an easel, a canvas and some oil paints, please?"

"Sure thing," Bulma agreed and hurried away. Haruka laughed. "An artist will always be an artist, huh?" Michiru nodded with a smile.

Goku's family left, making a promise to visit them again in a few days to see how they were doing. After a few hours the three visitors had gotten used to their new temporary home and were settling in just fine. By the time Bulma called them down for dinner, Michiru had finished the basics of her new painting, Hotaru looked a bit happier than usually and Haruka remarked that she had managed to find a TV-show that **_wasn't_** a soap opera. However, she still had a small frown on her face during the whole dinnertime.

"Still concerned about Earth?" Michiru asked her.

The girl nodded. "I just can't stand it… sitting here, knowing nothing, not able to do anything." She slammed her fist on the table. Most plates and bowls hopped up and fell back down with a clang. Everybody blinked.

Bulma looked at her. "What are you, some local superheroes?"

Haruka nodded with a sigh. "We're the Sailor Soldiers, we fight for love or justice… or whatever it was… in short, when a demon or some alien scum shows up, we're usually the ones that kick their booties."

"And there are quite many of us, so I don't think we should worry about those three weeks," Michiru added, "but…"

"But I still do," Haruka said.

"As long as Hotaru doesn't get some odd warning again, I think you won't have to worry," Trunks said and gulped down a mug of apple juice.

"Don't jinx it," Vegeta growled. Hotaru blinked and looked down. She took a deep breath as if she was trying to say something… then she closed her mouth again, sighed quietly and took another pancake. _Not yet. They're having enough trouble right now._

"Tell you what," Trunks announced to the three girls, ignoring his father, "tomorrow I'll take you all to a sort of a field trip. Trust me, you'll love it. Mom, will you borrow us that small jet plane?"

"Sure I could, but who's going to fly with it?" Bulma asked with a frown. "I have a busy day tomorrow, I'm planning to start my research about this glitch in Goku's translocation; I can't come to be your tourist guide."

"Can you fly a plane, Haruka?" Trunks asked the girl.

Haruka smirked. "I can drive everything that has an engine in it."


	3. It's trying to come back

**Chapter 3 – It's trying to come back**

In the next morning everyone woke up at almost the same time thanks to a loud noise coming from the living room.

"What the _heck_ is that?" Haruka asked with a wide yawn, opening her bedroom's door. "Sounds like a giant insane bee."

"You didn't miss much," Trunks agreed, wandering past her towards the toilet. "It's Saturday morning. Mom always cleans up on Saturday mornings."

Michiru, who had appeared on her room's door too, covered a yawn with her hand. "At 7 AM?"

Trunks shrugged. "She's late enough…"

The two girls came to the living room where Bulma was dashing around with a huge thing that looked (and sounded) like some prehistoric beast. And singing "_I'm a Believer_" on top of her lungs.

"Good morning!" Haruka yelled over the beast's roaring and Bulma's singing. The woman blinked, shut up and turned the vacuum cleaner off.

"Ahh, good morning, you two," she said with a smile. "Up so early?"

"I don't think they had much choice." Vegeta entered the room and glared at the monstrous vacuum cleaner. "I'm hungry."

Bulma laughed. "There's a shock. Where's Hotaru?"

Haruka and Michiru looked around and then gave each other a surprised glance. "Must be still in her room… although I can't imagine that this noise hasn't woken her up yet," Michiru said.

* * *

"Hotaru?" Haruka knocked on the door. "I know it's early and I know that you're tired but the breakfast is ready and the day is going to be long. Would you get up now?"

"She has always had the sleep of a bird and the room should be full of sunshine already," Michiru remarked with a concerned frown. "Maybe something has happened to her?"

"Let's take a look inside," Bulma suggested.

Haruka put her hand on the doorknob, hesitated for a second and pushed the door open. Bulma gasped. Trunks gave a quiet "wow".

The room that had been bright yellow, sunny and happy in the previous day was hardly recognizable. The big window was covered with a thick blue curtain that blocked most of the sunlight and so the room was filled with very soft blue light. Thanks to that curtain and the light, everything in the room was in blue shades. And on those blue walls something dark, wavy and ominous was crawling. Mere shadows, but they came from nowhere and were caused by nothing. At least it seemed so.

"What **_are_** these?" Bulma asked very quietly, pointing at the shadows. Her hand was shaking a little.

"Shadows from other dimensions," Haruka replied. "Harmless, as long as Hotaru still has her powers to hold them back. She's a link between our world and many others."

"Goodness, it's quiet in here…" Trunks muttered.

The others looked at him with surprise and then stared at the room. Trunks was right. The house was located near many highways and even at night the sounds of traffic were clearly to be heard. The door to the room next to Hotaru's was opened and as they were standing there, they could hear the sound of a big truck passing by coming from that other room. But Hotaru's room was quiet. So very quiet…

"She has isolated this place," Vegeta remarked. He had shown up behind the others. "Nice trick… although sleeping in here most likely feels like sleeping in a grave. But then again, she may even like it. By the way, her breakfast's getting cold."

Michiru went to the bed. Hotaru was in deep sleep, breathing calmly with her black hair spread out on the pillow – completely dead to the world. The shadows were keeping away from her. She looked so harmless and innocent, so vulnerable… but they all knew that she was the power source of those shadows.

"Hotaru," Michiru said quietly. The girl opened her huge eyes that instant. The shadows faded away, the room turned a bit brighter and all of a sudden all the sounds were back. The isolation was gone.

"Good morning." Hotaru sat up and yawned. "What time is it?"

Michiru smiled slightly. "Early. But we're going on a long trip today and the sooner we leave the better. Come on, your breakfast is ready."

* * *

"Okay, so shall we go guys?" Trunks asked after the breakfast. "Mom promised to give us a plane, right Mom?"

Bulma nodded. "It's in the living room, in the top drawer. You'll find it. I'll go to the lab now, much work to do… Vegeta, are you going with them?"

The prince of the Saiyans seemed thoughtful. "Don't mind if I do. Sitting here all day long isn't exactly thrilling… besides, what would they do if they'd meet some strong enemy on the way?"

Haruka snorted. "Most likely "Death Reborn Revolution" before anyone can say anything and bye-bye goes the galaxy." Michiru tried to hide a smile. Hotaru grinned widely.

"That settles it. Trunks, go get the plane. I'm coming too." Vegeta got up and left the kitchen.

"Yes Sir… meet you outside, girls!" Trunks galloped away.

In ten minutes the plane was out of the capsule, up in the air and high above the Western Capital. Haruka was sitting on the driver's seat and Trunks had gotten the honor of being the navigator. At the moment he was trying to read a huge map that was twice as wide as the boy himself.

"Let's see now... where should we go first?" he asked. "We could go to Satan City to see how Gohan's doing, we could go to the Papaya Islands, or Dende's palace, or..."

"Trunks," Haruka frowned, "_breathe_."

"I'd love to see all of those interesting places on your planet," Hotaru said calmly. She had been awfully quiet and serene for the whole morning and seemed a bit concerned about something. "Which one of those places you mentioned is the nearest?"

Trunks examined the map. "Actually, how 'bout going to Goku's place first? I'm sure that Goten would love to come with us. And then we can see about where to go."

Haruka nodded in agreement. "Gimme the coordinates." The plane accelerated and boosted towards the mountain ranges.

It was quiet in the plane. Mainly because Hotaru was quiet... **too** quiet, even for her. Eventually Michiru looked straight at her and asked in a sharp voice: "Hotaru, what's wrong?"

Hotaru startled and blinked. "Nothing... nothing, honestly."

"Don't even think you can fool me. I've known you long enough to understand when something is disturbing you..." Michiru's voice turned a bit softer. "You know you can trust me... and all of us. Tell me. What's going on?"

Hotaru sighed quietly. "It's trying to come back."

The plane fell for nearly twenty feet, then regained its control and boosted on. Haruka was gazing at Hotaru. Everyone else was glaring at her.

"A little respect for our lives here, if you please?" Trunks grunted.

Haruka didn't mind him. "It's trying to come back... you mean that shadowy dream-eating thing we fought back on Earth? The same one we blasted into the Dead Zone with your Silence Wall thing and our powers?"

Hotaru nodded. "It's very angry because of that loss and it has been increasing its powers in order to break out from the Dead Zone and get its revenge. _And_ take over the Universe, of course."

Vegeta, who had been looking out of the window for most of the time, turned his head and looked at Hotaru. "Do you really think that it's able to increase its powers so much in only two weeks?"

The girl shrugged. "Honestly, I wouldn't be very surprised if that thing would actually _originate_ from the Dead Zone... but even if not, you surely remember that it got its powers from other people's dreams. Now try to imagine how many creatures may be there in the Dead Zone. All those beings that have been sent there or gotten there by accident... I'm sure that they also dream. Dream of getting out. That dream must be their strongest desire, therefore the perfect health food for our shadow demon."

"Makes sense," Haruka nodded, narrowing her eyes, "and who exactly had this bright idea of sending it to the Dead Zone??"

Hotaru sighed again. "I know, and I'm sorry, but that was the only good idea I had at the moment. It was predictable that it would try to come back but when we were fighting there, that was the only reasonable thing to do; we just weren't strong enough to destroy in once and for all. Except for the Death Reborn Revolution, that is," she added with a sarcastic frown.

Haruka took a deep breath. "Okay, we'll discuss it when we get to Goku's place. Two more hours to fly... and then we'll see."

* * *

"This is serious," Goku agreed. They were all sitting in the backyard of Goku's house, drinking lemonade and interrogating Hotaru.

"The last time it came, it used some sort of a portal to get here," Hotaru said quietly. "It built a portal of its own powers, using my mind as a link. Well, this time it can't do that again since now I know what I'm up against and can protect my mind. Therefore it's increasing its powers, day by day, and eventually it'll break out. Through my mind. Whether I like it or not."

"Would you survive that?" Trunks asked. Hotaru shook her head.

"I doubt it…"

Vegeta's eyes narrowed. "You **must** hold this thing back. Once you let it out of the Dead Zone, it may very well open a way for all those creatures in there. That would be the end of, well, everything."

The girl sighed with frustration. "I know that, but there isn't much I can do. Meditating, yes, closing my mind, yes, but I'm simply a door. There isn't a single door in this Universe that can't be destroyed, not a single lock that can't be unlocked if you know the correct way. You're a Saiyan, you should know…"

Vegeta nodded thoughtfully. "There's a good point… so as I understand it, we can't prevent its coming and we can't prevent your death, right?"

"You got it," Hotaru agreed.

"At least there are the Dragonballs so we can bring you back to life," Goku said. "But we need to defeat this thing once and for all. Dead Zone won't help us any more. We must annihilate it."

Haruka and Michiru looked at him with slight surprise. The naive, ultra-optimistic joker had turned into a serious Saiyan warrior. His eyes were concerned and determined as he was trying to figure a way out of the situation.

Haruka snorted quietly. "We're dealing with a supernatural creature here. It's not even **_solid_**. All that good old-fashioned butt-kicking is not gonna do the trick this time."

Goten chortled. "Yeah, because it doesn't _have_ a butt."

Goku scratched his head. "I'd say that we need more brains to work on this thing… Chichi, Goten and I are gonna fly away for a couple of days!" He turned to the others. "We'll go to Dende's palace. He's the Guardian of Earth and Piccolo's there too, I'm sure that they can think of something."

Chichi dashed out of the house at the same second. "Oh no you won't! Goten has to study and you have to mow the lawn and besides, you just got back from that horrible planet and…"

Haruka frowned. "Horrible planet?"

"…you're not going anywhere!" the woman declared.

"But Chichi," the Saiyan warrior had turned into the naive joker again, "we need to save the Universe!"

Chichi placed her hands on the hips. "Just like always. Saving this, saving that… don't you think that I deserve a life too, huh?"

"That's exactly what we're trying to save here," Hotaru remarked with sarcasm – not a very common feature for her.

Goku scratched his head again and then turned to look at the others.

"Are we going or not?" he suddenly asked with a wide grin. Chichi gasped. Haruka stood up, grinning as well.

"I'll drive."


	4. Friday the 13th

**Chapter 4 – Friday the 13th**

The small plane was flying over the mountains, farther and farther to the west. Icy mountain peaks slid by, every once in a while some huge dragon passed by the window. Haruka muttered something about the plane having way too small windscreen wipers.

"Your planet has a weird fauna," Hotaru told the others. Goku grinned.

"They're not dangerous. They may be a little annoying when they get lost in some big city and, well, they're clumsy. But they're actually really nice."

"To imagine all the money they could've saved when making the Godzilla movie over here," Michiru said with a smile. Haruka frowned and said over her shoulder:

"Goku, come on here. I think that's the forest... now where?" Goku stepped next to the driver's seat to show Haruka the way.

"A little to the right… yeah, I think it should be somewhere over there… and I'd suggest you to fly a little higher… ooh, there it is! We have to reach the top of that tower over there."

Haruka blinked and tried to spot the top of the tower but it disappeared into the clouds. "How high is it?"

Goku shrugged. "High…"

The girl grinned and pulled the control lever. The plane boosted up vertically.

"It may take a little while before we reach the top," Goku said, "but if the plane won't run out of gas, we'll make it eventually."

"What is this tower?" Michiru asked.

"Well, this one over here is Karin-sama's tower," Goku explained, "and above that tower, miles and miles above, is Dende's palace."

The plane accelerated a bit. In about half an hour they could see a huge colorful hemisphere floating between the clouds. The plane landed in front of the palace which was a lot smaller than the Sailor Soldiers had expected.

"Welcome to Dende's!" Goku announced merrily, jumping out of the plane.

"Yeah, and you're really the right one to welcome us," Vegeta said. "So, anybody home?"

Trunks looked around. "I don't see anyone... ooh, there's Piccolo!" The Namekian was meditating in the shade of a palm tree. Goku sneaked over to him and took a deep breath.

"Heya Piccolo!" he yelled on top of his lungs. Piccolo opened one eye.

"Really funny," he remarked and stood up. "Any specific reason you brought this bunch of tourists here?"

Goku grinned, but then his eyes turned serious. "And there's a very specific reason. Where's Dende? We need to have a little meeting."

* * *

"And you're sure that there's nothing you can do about it?" Piccolo asked Hotaru after hearing the story.

Hotaru sighed. „I'm nearly a link between those two worlds; this Universe and the Dead Zone. That thing is too powerful for my mind. Even if I'd train every single day to make my concentration better, that demon's several steps ahead. Several miles, actually."

Dende scratched his head. "Well, these are really bad news, especially when everyone in the Dead Zone will really break out. Over the centuries many strong creatures have been sent there and if they'd all come out..."

"How many beings do you think are there?" Haruka asked.

The Guardian of Earth shrugged. "Twenty thousand, maybe more, maybe less." Everyone stared at him.

"So what can we actually do when they all come out?" Michiru asked. "Pretty much nothing, I'd say."

"Unless..." Hotaru frowned.

Haruka gazed at her. "**No** Death Reborn Revolution! Besides, as you said, you're not going to survive when it returns." Hotaru blinked, sighed and nodded. They were all quiet for a while.

"We need to train," Vegeta suddenly announced.

Piccolo glanced at him. "And will that help?"

The Saiyan prince frowned. "Well, we have to do something... got better suggestions?"

* * *

Three days had passed. Goku's family had moved into the main building of Capsule Corporation although Chichi was loudly protesting against it every single day. But Goku had declared that they had to be ready and there whenever the Dead Zone should open, not laying thousands of miles away in their backyard. Bulma didn't mind having that many people in the house – after all, she had once had all living Namekians under that same roof. Even though Chichi was the only practical help she had; Michiru was in her room painting for most of the time, Hotaru was in her room, reading or watching TV for most of the time, the Saiyans were training all day long and Haruka shared Vegeta's opinion about all the household duties. Although she didn't mind fixing numerous cars and planes that were standing in the garages.

On that morning, Hotaru entered the crowded kitchen with a concerned look on her face and everyone realized that there had been another vision.

"Okay, so what's it this time?" Goku asked.

""Soon,"" Hotaru replied. "I think it's getting stronger."

"Well, duh..." Trunks commented.

Vegeta snorted. "Why does this thing always have to give such pointless clues? Might as well just keep them to itself."

"It's trying to confuse us," Haruka snarled. "I wish it came earlier... I'm sick of waiting."

"I'm sure that it will pick a special day or a special place... or both... to come with a bang," Michiru said slowly. "Remember the last time it came? At midnight, in an old gothic church, when it was full moon."

"And it was Friday the 13th," Goten added. The others looked at him with surprise. „It was?"

"Yeah, I remember it well because I broke a mug that day and Haruka told me that it was because of Friday the 13th," Goten remembered. „All demons are terribly vain, y'know... and they love clichés. Watch TV a little more often and you'll know everything about demons," he added with a grin.

"Well, you won't find a gothic church in this city," Bulma said, "but there is a cemetery…"

Suddenly Haruka jumped up and dashed to the calendar. "I never thought of the fact that on this planet the day and date are different…!" She turned to the others. "On our Earth Friday the 13th comes twice or thrice a year so if that misty buddy likes that date, it should've waited for several months in order to reappear. But we came here…" she pointed at the calendar, "and we came on a bad time. Friday the 13th is tomorrow."

"Man, not another sleepless night…" Trunks moaned. "Can't you fight this one without me? Mom, tell Dad that I'm a little kid and little kids must go to sleep at 8 PM!"

Bulma grinned. "Vegeta, he's a little kid and so on, but you won't care anyway, huh?" The Saiyan prince laughed and nodded.

"Trunks, you're a lot stronger than I was in your age and you're a half-Saiyan… you will fight that thing and that's final. Besides, I'm sure that we'll need Gotenks sooner or later."

Goten snorted. "If I would've known that learning the fusion would end up like that…"

"You know what the real problem is?" Hotaru suddenly asked. "Bulma, you said that the Dragonballs need three weeks in order to regain its powers. Well, we don't have three weeks. The Universe may be destroyed by that time."

"Then we must prevent it," Vegeta smirked. "We know the time… what about the place?"

"NO dusty churches this time!" Trunks and Goten announced.

"It will come wherever it wants… or has to, when it wants to keep its clichés," Michiru said. "Tomorrow, at midnight, and it _will_ come, even if Hotaru would happen to be in the kindergarten at that moment."

"There's an idea," Gohan grinned.

"And when it comes, what will we do? We still haven't thought of that. You all seem to think that we'll attack it as soon as it shows up but hey, we've been through that." Haruka, who was now standing by the window, threw that question to the others.

"We need to distract it," Vegeta replied.

Haruka turned around. "With what, if I may ask?"

"There's someone… that may be able to help us with that," Michiru suddenly said. "If I only knew how to… but yeah, actually, I should've thought of that one long time ago!" She stood up. "Goku, how's your instant translocation doing?"

"I wouldn't risk with that," Goku warned her.

Goten and Trunks hopped up too. "We'll take you to wherever you want… as long as it's on this planet, we'll get there!"

Haruka looked at her friend with great surprise. "Now what are you up to?"

"I just had this funny little idea that might work… let's go boys, we don't have that much time!" The three hurried out, leaving the others confused and stunned.

"Whatever it is, it better be good," Vegeta remarked grimly.

_Author's Note: If you're reading this and you really read all the previous chapters through as well, it would be nice if you'd submit a review. Feedback would help me to improve and besides, updating the story turns sorta pointless when I'm not sure if anyone's even reading that thing. Don't expect it to end soon though..._


	5. Some extra time

**Chapter 5 – Some extra time**

It was Friday afternoon and everybody's nerves were pretty wrecked. Michiru had returned in a few hours with a mysterious smile on her face but refused to say where she had been and what she had done there. Trunks and Goten weren't much more informative either. "We dropped her to Karin-sama's tower," was the only thing they revealed, "and then she sent us up to Dende's palace. She said that you didn't have to know what we were doing there since that demon might be able to read Hotaru's thoughts and that would ruin the whole surprise."

"What if it won't come today?" Gohan asked Hotaru. The girl shook her head slowly.

"Then it won't come at all… but it **will** come. I can feel it well. My head hurts…"

"So does mine, but that's only because of all that tension," Haruka remarked, coming from the laboratory. "Michiru, darnit, could you please stop being so annoyingly mysterious and tell us what you're up to?"

"Can't," the girl replied, going towards the kitchen, "like the boys said, that thing may be able to read Hotaru's thoughts and I don't want to risk with that." Her face turned serious. "It may not work but it's at least some hope…"

Hours went by. It was almost seven o'clock already and they were all pretty nervous; except for Hotaru who was even calmer than usually. Vegeta was downstairs, training. The others were lurking around the house, having nothing to do, as always when people are eagerly waiting for something. Eventually Bulma announced that she couldn't stand living in that cemetery any more and suggested that they should all go on a picnic.

"Some nice junk food will calm you all down," she claimed, "and besides, I don't want that thing in my house. I just cleaned up, you know."

"Good idea," Gohan said thoughtfully, "a king-sized pizza is exactly what I need right now."

"Let's go to McDonalds's drive-in and order a dozen family meals!" Trunks shouted excitedly. Haruka grabbed the keys Bulma had thrown her and went towards the front door.

"You have McDonalds here?" she asked Trunks as she was starting the plane. The boy seemed surprised.

"Of course. Don't you? McDonalds is _everywhere_!"

„So I've noticed..." the girl agreed.

* * *

The sun was setting and they were all sitting on that same field the Saiyans had landed on when they returned from Earth. Most of the food they had brought with them was long gone. Trunks and Goten were playing nearby (which meant that they were floating in the air and trying to punch each other's face while dodging the attacks), the adults were sitting on the grass and talking. They were discussing all sorts of pointless everyday topics like the founding of Capsule Corporation (Bulma: "They thought my dad was nuts, but just as long as he invented his first capsule...") and the economics of Earth (Haruka: "They seem to think that oil will last forever but I'd say that in a couple of decades I'm gonna have to start racing with electric cars.").

As the sun had completely disappeared behind the horizon, Trunks started telling ghost stories. They didn't have much effect though since they were all waiting for something that was a lot worse than bleeding headless zombies.

"All that waiting is giving me gray hair!" Bulma complained. "Can't this thing come a bit earlier?"

"Send it a written invitation and we'll see," Vegeta suggested sarcastically. The two Saiyan brats burst into laughter.

"Yeah, stick it into Hotaru's ear and it may very well get it!"

Hotaru was sitting on a nearby rock, looking at the full moon that was rising. She didn't seem to be paying any attention to the others. Suddenly she gave a very quiet moan. However, Haruka and Michiru heard it. They both instantly turned their heads to see the thin girl slowly floating up in the air. Her eyes turned completely black.

The others noticed the expression on the two girls' faces, turned to look at Hotaru as well and gasped.

"A little early, I'd say," Vegeta snorted.

"Nah... it's midnight," Bulma discovered in surprise, staring at her watch. "But I could've sworn it was a little past 9 just a little while ago..."

Hotaru's body turned into a black silhouette, then it disintegrated into black mist and wrapped up the rock she had been sitting on. Michiru's Aqua Mirror had appeared into her arms, she silently raised it towards the mist and spoke a few words so quietly that no one else heard them.

"Hotaru!" Goku took a few steps towards the rock. Haruka grabbed his arm.

"She's already gone," she said. Her voice was very sharp. "Now it's just time to fight." Her eyes were a bit concerned but she had a self-confident smile on her face.

Michiru finished whatever she had been doing and whispered to Vegeta: "Now she'll either win or die trying… listen Haruka, don't run into the fire yet. I still have my plan."

"Oh, so this time you do?" They all looked up to the rock to see the familiar, misty, black-winged, black-clad, sharp-fanged demon. The creature seemed rather happy (or at least as happy as a demon of darkness can be); it stretched its wings and cackled merrily.

"True, last time you defeated me," it grinned, "but only because that girl, that Sailor Scout of Death had the power to lock me into the Dead Zone. Now she's gone, her life brought me here and she won't be able to do anything to me this time." It smirked at the ready-to-fight Saiyans. "You wish to defeat me? Go ahead… your energy attacks won't do anything to me."

Haruka's fists clenched. "Michiru. Your plan. More or less _now_!"

"Don't talk to her," a calm voice said right behind her, "talk to me."

Haruka instantly turned around to look straight into Sailor Pluto's dark brown eyes. The woman nodded slightly and smiled. "Hello once again, Uranus."

"What is she, the _deus ex machina_??" Vegeta asked in surprise. "She always shows up when everything seems to be hopeless."

Trunks frowned with confusion. "Deus ex-what?"

Sailor Pluto glanced at Vegeta. "I never show up unless things are hopeless… otherwise you wouldn't be needing me anyway, or what?" She turned to the demon. "I am Sailor Pluto, the keeper of Space and Time. I have an offer for you."

The creature seemed amused. "Yes?"

"I'm thousands of years old," Pluto said, "older than any other creature in this world. I existed in this world long before any dreams at all. I also dream, and my dreams are the oldest ones in this Universe; ancient, powerful and for you definitely very tasty. Here's my offer: take my dreams and spare the rest of this world. That's all I'm asking."

The demon cackled. "How pathetically heroic… ancient, you say?" It seemed thoughtful for a moment.

Haruka was staring at Pluto. "Have you completely lost it? What's a human without its dreams? Even you won't be the same when you lose them and the Space and Time will collide without you… where would the big difference be???" She turned to look at Michiru. "Your big plan, eh?"

Michiru shrugged with concern. "Hers, not mine. I simply asked for her help. Karin-sama was able to contact her."

Pluto didn't seem concerned at all. "Trust me, I know what I'm doing." She looked at the demon. "What do you say? I'm offering you a real gourmet food here."

The creature had come to some decision in the meantime and now had a mean grin on its face. "Fine. We have a deal. I'll take your dreams and spare the rest of this world."

"**Don't bel**…" The shout froze straight into Goten's mouth as Pluto waved her long scepter without even looking back. The woman took a few steps forward and looked up at the demon that grinned again and reached out its hand. A black whirl of mist surrounded Sailor Pluto's head.

Everyone was quiet for a minute. Pluto didn't even move, she was simply standing there with a mysterious smile on her face. The demon didn't move either, it just kept grinning. The black mist whirled around the woman's head… and suddenly turned white.

"I didn't even hope you'd fall for something so lame," Pluto said with a sharp voice as the grin on the creature's face quickly turned into surprise and then pure fear. Sailor Pluto's smile was also gone, she raised her staff and the Garnet Orb started to glow.

"Now it's gonna scream "_nooooooooo_!" and disappear or blow up," Trunks whispered to Goten who nodded. It was obvious that Pluto was now in control.

"No! It can't be! No! No! _Nooooooo_!" The creature spread its arms and fell back, shrunk a little and then disappeared like smoke that comes out of a chimney. Trunks and Goten grinned at each other.

"They really love clichés," Gohan remarked in surprise. "Well done!" Goten went up to Pluto who was now sitting on the grass and breathing hard. He poked her shoulder and as the woman looked up, the kid pointed at his opened mouth. Pluto grinned a bit sheepishly.

"Sorry…" She waved her scepter again, making the sentence in Goten's mouth unfreeze and burst out as "…**ieve it**!!!" The kid took a deep breath and announced:

"You were really _cool_!"

Pluto smiled and stood up again. "Thanks." She looked at the others. "I bought you some time but I'm not exactly sure how much. It won't fall for the same trick again though, so be careful." She raised her staff, preparing to return to her duties.

"Hold your horses," Vegeta snapped. "What exactly did you do and what do you mean "you bought us some time"?"

Sailor Pluto stopped. "Well, you see, I may be a human but I'm very old and I possess the powers of Time, therefore I have a little more control over myself than the rest of you. When it tried to drain my dreams out of me, I simply blocked its powers and then made them to suck its own energy out. It will regain its powers eventually and then it will be really _mad_… but if you hurry, you will be able to summon the Dragonballs by then and these will help you to defeat it."

"You think Eternal Dragon Shenlong is able to destroy it?" Bulma asked. Sailor Pluto glanced at her.

"Come on… the creature is nothing but a demon of darkness. Most of them are practically harmless; this one's just a bit too… ambitious. One magical dragon and poof, there goes the demon. Your materialistic powers may be worthless when fighting it but hey, that doesn't mean that it can't be destroyed."

Goku gasped; he had just gotten an idea. "Say guys, when even Shenlong would be able to destroy it then what about Porunga? The Namekian dragon? He's even more powerful!"

Vegeta glared at him. "Good luck contacting the Namekians with your messed-up translocation powers…"

The Saiyan blinked. "Yeah… never thought of that. Bulma, how's your research doing? There are three weeks till the Dragonballs regain their powers, if I'd be able to contact Namek before that, we'd get rid of that demon earlier. We don't know when it's planning to return, y'know…"

"And how it's planning to return," Haruka added. "Hotaru's gone and I haven't heard of any other Sailor Soldiers of Death. Where exactly did you send it anyway?"

Pluto shrugged. "No idea. I didn't send it anywhere, it escaped by itself. If it happens to find a place full of dreams though then it will return earlier."

Goten pulled Pluto's arm. "Say, if you're able to stop time then why didn't you just freeze that thing until the Dragonballs are back in action?"

Pluto laughed. "Well, one time-frozen demon standing on a rock wouldn't be suspicious at all, would it? Besides, the freezing doesn't last that long and last but not least, it's forbidden. And may very well kill me when I use it. No, like I said, I only bought you some time, and possibly not that much. I'll get going now."

"Hold on!" Bulma shouted. "I have two questions. Goku mentioned something about there being too much magical aura in that house where he tried to do the instant translocation. And that you may be the reason… do you think it's possible?"

"That thanks to my aura the translocation messed up?" Pluto seemed thoughtful. "Maybe." She looked at Goku. "In that case the only cure would be more training. You need to work on your concentration. But that may not be the reason. What's the second question? I'm really in a hurry now."

Bulma frowned, looking at her long green hair and brown skin. "To make a long story short… how come you're thousands of years old and look like _that_?"

Sailor Pluto laughed. "I prefer to keep that as my little professional secret, thank you…" The Garnet Orb started to glow and on the next second the woman was gone.

"Can we go home now?" Trunks asked with a yawn, breaking the silence. "I'm sleepy."


	6. Go to Hell

**Chapter 6 – Go to Hell**

The next morning was quiet in the main building of the CC. Everybody was sitting by the breakfast table, drinking their coffee and trying not to look at the empty seat that had belonged to Hotaru.

"I wonder if she's dead," Trunks suddenly said, "or just gone somewhere."

"She said she wouldn't survive the demon coming out," Bulma remarked thoughtfully. "But yeah, her body disappeared… perhaps she's just trapped somewhere."

Goku scratched his head with the coffee mug. "I could go to King Enma and ask him…"

"Do you think it's safe?" Chichi gasped. "With those powers of yours being messed up and all…"

Goku stood up. "I'll try. It can't go that wrong…" He closed his eyes and concentrated. Then he disappeared.

As the Saiyan dared to open his eyes again, he was a bit nervous. The translocation had felt like floating again and he wasn't sure what he would see when he would open the eyes. But whatever it was that he had been expecting, it sure wasn't the breakfast table.

"You know…" Haruka was the first one to open her mouth, "I don't know much about that stuff but wouldn't it make more sense to _keep your darn hands off the table when performing the translocation_???"

"Oops…" Goku noticed that although he had put the coffee mug on the table, he hadn't let go of it. The translocation had brought the whole table with him… and everyone sitting by the table.

Almost everyone.

"Hey, where's Mom? And Chichi? And Gohan? And I don't see Michiru either!" Trunks asked, looking around.

"Perhaps they were keeping their elbows off the table when the translocation took place," Haruka snapped.

"And how come you came along, Miss Good Manners?" Trunks retorted.

"Where the heck are we anyway?" the girl asked, ignoring Trunks. "That place looks odd."

The table was standing on a yellow square, by a pond that had blood red water in it. There were couple of benches and hedges nearby and some sharp mountain peaks were looming in the distance. The sky was pink.

"Hey, I know that place!" Goku shouted. "We're in the Hell!"

"Yeah…" Vegeta stood up too, "really… now I remember too. It's been a while."

Haruka stared at Goku. "You brought us to **_Hell_**?"

Goku took a few steps back and grinned sheepishly. "It's not such a bad place, really… and besides, they'll kick us out as soon as they learn that we're not dead."

"That's the hell?" Trunks and Goten were obviously disappointed. "Where are all the flaming rifts and tortured souls and the Devil?"

"Watch a little less TV," Vegeta suggested and turned to Haruka. "If Hotaru is dead, where do you think she is; in the Heaven or in the Hell?"

Haruka was examining the pond that had a little fountain in it. "Well, I believe she should be in Heaven… after all, she was with the good guys. Is that real blood?"

"What else do you think there would be?" They turned around to see a huge ogre with "HELL" written on his shirt. "I'm Mezu, the watcher of Hell, and as I can see, you guys are not dead. What are you doing here, if I may ask?"

"Uhm," Goku stepped up, "we sorta got here more or less accidentally. We would like to see King Enma… please?"

"Then you'll need an application in triplicate and it's a busy season so you might have to wait for a month or two," Mezu announced. "Hey, do I know you? You look familiar."

A wide smile appeared on Goku's face. "Yeah, I've been here before. You made me to compete with you in order to find a way out of the Hell and waaaitaminute, I still know where the secret passage is!" he flicked his fingers. "Come on, y'all, I know the way out of the Hell!"

"Where are you running?" Haruka sat down on the table. "Neither the Hell nor the Heaven is running away from us. Let me finish my coffee first."

"And I think I have a few bones to pick with a few residents here," Vegeta added with his mouth full, gnawing on a pancake. "It won't take that long."

"What bones?" Haruka asked him, pouring herself another cup of coffee.

"Well, there was this guy that killed me about nine or ten years ago, I'd like to pay him back and all," the Saiyan explained, grabbing another pancake.

"I want more maple syrup!" Trunks announced, sitting back behind the table.

Mezu blinked. "What is this, a tea party? I'm gonna get fired because of you guys, y'know!"

Vegeta swallowed the last pancake and turned to look at the ogre. "Since you're the security guard here, tell me where I can find Freeza."

Mezu pointed somewhere over his shoulder. "Over there, but please, could you get out of here now? You Saiyans have caused way too much trouble here already."

"Give me five minutes," the prince mumbled, heading towards a few trees with a table standing in their shade.

"That I gotta see," Trunks announced, following his dad. The others quickly finished their breakfast and went after him.

Around that table by the trees, there were sitting the most fearful, powerful and merciless villains that had ever lived. Freeza himself, the lizard-like tyrant that had enslaved the whole Saiyan race; his powerful father, King Cold; the android Cell that had once killed Goku; and the Ginyu force, the elite of Freeza's henchmen. All other inhabitants of Hell were staying away from them. They were the elite, the local bullies of Hell. Nobody wanted to mess with them. They really knew how to deal with anyone that dared to face them, even though they were dead.

Right now they were playing poker.

"A bar of chocolate???" Guldo slammed his fist on the table. "Are you nuts? These things are _expensive_ here!"

"Not my problem," Cell shrugged, "a bar of chocolate or you're out of the game."

Guldo snorted angrily. "Dangit… Jeice, do you have any money to lend me? I'll pay you back."

"Nah, sorry," Jeice snarled, "I'm broke. Although the baldy here," he glared at Freeza, "still has my hairbrush and I want to win it back!"

"Excuse me, guys." A small energy blast whizzed past Cell's ear and destroyed the poker table. Everyone hopped up and turned their heads to see the prince of the Saiyans standing a couple of feet away. He had a grin on his face.

"Can Freeza come out to play?" he asked, raising his arm to form another blast.

The tyrant's eyes narrowed. "Vegeta. It's been a while."

Mezu was about to get a heart attack. "That was our best poker table!!!"

"Although they had taken it without asking?" Haruka asked with a smirk.

"But it was still our best poker table!" Mezu complained.

"Vegeta," Goku shouted, "he's not even a good challenge for you anymore! Just, I dunno, punch him for a couple of times or something and let's get going already!"

Vegeta shrugged with a grin. "True…" He dashed forward with almost the speed of light and grabbed Freeza's tail. Then he raised Freeza up in the air by his tail, looking straight into the villain's upside-down face.

"Once you enslaved, humiliated and eventually killed me," he said. "And now your strength is the strength of a worm compared to me. Kakarot's right, that's not even challenging. Get out of my sight." He spun Freeza around his head for a couple of times and then let go. The tyrant flew far away over the sharp mountain peaks.

"Feeling better now?" Haruka asked with a frown.

Vegeta grinned widely. "Much better." The Ginyu force had taken several steps back. The Saiyan prince turned to look at them. Haruka sighed.

"Aw, come on… can't we go already? If Freeza's a worm compared to you then do they even deserve your attention?"

Vegeta seemed thoughtful. "Too true. Let's get going. Kakarot, where's the exit?" He turned around. Trunks chortled.

"Holy dung, Haruka, how did you know that this is the same tactics Mom always uses when she wants to prevent Dad from blowing something up?"

The girl smiled. "I have my logic. Yo guys, you're not planning to fly away without me, huh?"

"And don't you even think about leaving that table here!" Mezu warned, pointing at the breakfast table.

Goku raised his hand to surround the table with his energy, lift it into the air and bring it to the others. "Of course not. Haruka, sit on the table. And hold on."

Five minutes later they were flying high above the Hell. Goku had said that instead of looking for the exit they might as well go straight to the Heaven since it wasn't that far away. Haruka was sitting on the table with her legs crossed and holding the coffee pot in her lap because otherwise it would've fallen off the table.

"I'm sitting on a flying table that is taking me straight to the Heaven," she remarked sarcastically. "I could develop a whole new religion."

Goten sat down next to her. "What, praise the coffee tables because they're your tickets to Heaven? There's a nice idea. Are we there yet?"

"Almost," Goku nodded. "See?" He pointed at a yellowish pink planet that was floating right in front of them and approaching fast. Soon they landed in Heaven.

"Looks like a cartoon," Trunks said, examining the green fields covered with colorful flowers. "And the place is huge. How are we supposed to find her here?"

Goku looked around enthusiastically. "We'll ask someone. Hey, you, over there, yeah you, have you seen… say, have we met?"

The dead spirit he had asked the question from had red skin, two horns growing out of his forehead and a flower bouquet in his hands. He floated closer as a wide smile appeared on his face.

"Look at that, it's Goku! And Vegeta too! I'm so glad to see you! These two must be your sons?" He crouched down to pat Trunks's head. "I should have a chocolate bar somewhere… right, here it is! Take that, kids." He broke the bar into half and gave the halves to the brats.

"Erm, thanks…" Goten and Trunks blinked, stuffing the chocolate into their mouths.

The spirit stood up again and noticed Haruka. "And who's that lovely young lady? Here, take this bouquet; I'll pick a new one soon." He stuck the bouquet into Haruka's hands. The girl blinked as her eyes turned bigger and bigger.

"Uhm… thanks… I guess…" She sniffed the flowers, raising one eyebrow.

Goku scratched his head with a slightly confused smile. "Nice to… see you again, Dabra… Kids, Haruka, this is Dabra, uhm, the Master of the Underworld… or something…"

Dabra nodded with a wide smile. "The former master of the Underworld, or perhaps just the Devil if you like it that way. Pleased to meet you."

"My whole view of life just collapsed, poof, just like that," Trunks hissed to Haruka. The girl shrugged slightly and stuck the bouquet into her back pocket.

"I just got flowers from the devil. So? Listen… Dabra, was it? Have you seen a girl around here, about the age of 13, short black hair, a pale face, big purple eyes, may look a little… misty?"

Dabra thought for a moment. "No, I don't think so. But if you're looking for someone, why don't you go see King Enma? He knows everything about everyone in the Afterworld."

"That means we have to fly back," Goku muttered. "Fine then… thanks for the info. Haruka, on the table."

"And don't forget your flowers," Vegeta added with a grin. Haruka made a grimace at him.


	7. Looking for Hotaru

Chapter 7 – Looking for Hotaru

After ten minutes of flying, they noticed a small tavern on the way.

"Shall we pop by?" Goten asked. "I'm thirsty!"

Haruka snorted. "In case you haven't noticed, we're carrying a whole breakfast table with us." She reached the coffee pot towards Goten. "Coffee, anyone?"

"I just wanna see what the tavern looks like," the kid pouted. "It won't take that much time. Please?"

"Fine, I don't see any reason why we shouldn't check it out," Goku said. "Let's go down."

They landed in front of the tavern. It was small, nothing more than a little wooden hut with a big WELCOME sign above the door. But the place was crowded and many ogres were sitting outside the tavern by small tables, drinking tea or beer (depending of whether they were off duty or not).

"Hey y'all, the parking lot is over there!" one of the ogres shouted at the Saiyans. Haruka laughed and leaped off the table. "You handle it, Goku… I'm going in."

The tavern was really crowded, noisy and filled with cigarette smoke. The girl entered the tavern with Trunks and Goten right beside her. The three spent the first five minutes coughing.

"Do they think that living in the Afterworld will protect them from lung cancer?" Vegeta asked, entering the tavern as well.

Goku came in too. "I'd be surprised if it didn't. Wow, you guys have no idea what their parking lot looks like. Some people seem to be travelling with paper planes here!"

"Got a problem with that, wiseguy?" an annoyed leprechaun asked from next to his foot. Goku blinked.

"No… not at all. Ehehe… hey, there's a familiar face! Looks like we'll meet many old buddies today! Come on!" He elbowed his way through the crowd and reached a very small table in the other end of the tavern. The others followed him.

"Hello, Baba!" Goku shouted merrily. "I didn't expect to see you here!"

The grey-haired witch looked up. "Goku? That's a surprise. Are you dead again?"

Surprisingly there was a free seat by the table; the Saiyan plumped down on it and explained Baba the whole story. As he finished, Baba seemed a bit concerned.

"The whole Dead Zone? That doesn't sound good. They haven't escaped yet, have they?"

"Actually I'm surprised that they didn't come out as soon as that creature opened the portal," Haruka remarked, "but then again, it actually turned Hotaru's body into itself and I doubt thatthe other inhabitants of the zone know how to do that or use that."

"And you say that Sailor Pluto turned its own powers against it?" Baba cackled. "I've always said that she's a really smart girl."

"You know her?" Goku asked.

"Of course she does," Sailor Pluto's calm voice remarked right next to him. "We're old friends. And you're sitting on my seat."

Goku blinked and started up. "Oops, sorry." Pluto gave him a forgiving smile, sat down and put two cups on the old wooden table.

"You owe me ten golden doubloons, Baba, or fifteen dollars, pick the currency. Why are you guys so surprised? I come here often. This place is almost the only tavern in all dimensions where I get to meet my friends and where the prices aren't sky-high."

"And she calls fifteen dollars cheap," Baba commented with a frown, digging through her pockets to find the money. "Say Pluto, do you know anything about the fate of that girl, what was her name again…"

"Sailor Saturn?" Pluto sipped from the cup and shook her head. "She has to be somewhere in the Afterworld but I have no idea where exactly. Can't you Saiyans find her aura?"

"Actually I can feel it but I don't know where we would land if I'd try to teleport again," Goku said. Pluto shrugged with a regretful smile and put the cup back on the table.

"This isn't rum in there, is it?" Haruka teased. Pluto snorted quietly.

"Oh please… I never drink alcohol when I'm working. And I'm always working."

"I have an idea," Baba suddenly said very slowly. "You said that she lost her life when that demon came to your world, right? So generally that means that she died for your world. Not to mention the fact that she's a Sailor Soldier. In short, I don't think she's either in the Hell or the Heaven but…" She fell silent for a couple of seconds.

"Okay, end of effect pause," Haruka growled. "Where?"

"Dai Kaio's planet," Baba said.

"**Of course**!" Goku's fist smashed onto the table. "Why didn't I think of this before? All heroes that have died for their people or planet or home or something like that go there! She **must** be there!"

"Fine, fine, then go there but please spare my favorite table!" Baba grunted.

* * *

"There it is," Goku said. They had been flying for quite a while; Dai Kaio's planet was farther away than most places in the Afterworld; a little above the Heaven. The planet was small and blue, yet rather welcoming.

"You'll most likely meet many old friends here," Vegeta remarked to Goku who nodded with a smile. They landed right in front of Dai Kaio's palace.

"Incoming breakfast table!" Goku yelled as he tried to land the table more or less horizontally. Haruka snorted and jumped down.

"Don't tell me that we're gonna have to search this whole planet through in order to find Hotaru?"

"Actually we might as well ask Dai Kaio… if I could only find him," Goku replied. "Hey look, there's Paikuhan! Hellooo!" He jumped up and down frantically. "Over here!"

"That man really can't be let out in the public," Vegeta snorted.

The green-skinned hero came closer and smiled as he recognized Goku. "Nice to see you again. What brings you here?"

After hearing the story Paikuhan thought for a moment. "Yes, I saw her here yesterday… many people come here daily but I remembered her because, well, you don't see little girls here that often. She arrived without even using the ogres' transportation which amazed us all. She just appeared in front of the palace, looked around, asked us where she was and then went away… to those forests, as I remember."

Haruka nodded with a frown. "She must be confused and distressed because of what happened to her. I think she hoped till the very last moment that she was actually able to prevent that demon coming. Those forests, you said? Let's get moving, you guys."

"Trunks, Goten, stay with her; she can't fly as you know," Goku said. "Let's split up and search separately."

"And what exactly do we do after we've found her?" Vegeta asked. "She's dead, well, fine. Even if we find her, we can't bring her back."

"But we can make sure that she isn't trapped in some other dimension instead of being dead as any other normal person," Haruka retorted. "Trunks, Goten, let's go."

"Don't leave the table here," Paikuhan warned them, "the Kais are quite strict about following the rules. And Rule #976b clearly says that kitchen tables must not stand in front of Dai Kaio's palace."

The Saiyans stared at him. "Long live bureaucracy," Vegeta commented. Trunks raised his hands and concentrated for a while, trying to get control over the table. He succeeded after three broken coffee cups and Haruka took her seat again.

"Let's move out then," she said.

Goku went to the north, Vegeta to the east and the kids along with the table headed towards the west. Trunks was trying hard to maneuver the table between all the trees as Goten browsed around for Hotaru. Haruka was sitting on the table with her legs crossed and humming some theme from "Aladdin".

"She can't be that far," the girl remarked after forgetting the lyrics and stopping singing, "after all, she's on foot and she arrived yesterday."

"Yeah, she's not far, I can feel her aura," Goten agreed, "but there are so many other strong auras here that her weak aura gets totally lost. That should be the direction though."

Haruka had been keeping her eye on the landscape. The forest had been very small and they were already flying above a plain. Some bigger trees were growing on that plain and many long gone heroes of all sorts of races and ages were training on the fields. Many of them didn't even pay any attention to the flying table. Suddenly the girl shouted: "**Stop!**", Trunks gasped and the table gave surprisingly clear break screeches as it stopped in the air.

Haruka leaned over the side of the table and her eyes narrowed as she focused them on someone sitting under a nearby tree.

"Nah," she said then, sitting up again, "it's not him."

"What happened… you mean that guy over there?" Trunks looked at the man. "Come on, he looks absolutely nothing like Hotaru. As a matter of fact, he looks more like… holy cow pies!"

"That would look interesting," Goten grinned, turning to look at the man too. "Yeah, he seems a bit… familiar. So?"

Trunks and Haruka stared at him. "Whadda you mean with "so"? That guy's the exact copy of you father!" Trunks hissed.

Haruka scratched her head, looking at the man. "No, not the exact copy. Only his hair looks alike. That's why I confused him with Goku in the first place. His face and clothes are completely different." She paused for a second. "Actually, even his face…" she added in surprise.

"Let's go talk to him!" Trunks suggested and on the same second the table landed on the grass. The kid ran to the man sitting under the tree and looked up to him with a wide friendly grin on his face.

"Heya!" he said. "I'm Trunks. Who are you?"

The man who had either been taking a nap or daydreaming, opened one eye. He really had Goku's hairdo, he was wearing a greenish amour and he had a scar on the cheek.

"Get lost, kid," he suggested and closed his eyes again.

Trunks pouted. "You look like someone I know and I just wanted to know if you knew him or something. "

The man frowned slightly. "Probably not. Will you get lost now? I didn't know they let kids here."

"Does the name "Goku" ring any bells?" Trunks asked persistently.

"No. Buzz off." The man seemed annoyed.

Haruka had been picking up all the coffee cups Trunks had dropped while landing the table. Now she came to the tree.

"Trunks, you really have no interrogation skills whatsoever. These things work differently. Hey you, are you a Saiyan?"

The man immediately opened his eyes. "And who are you to ask?"

A hardly noticeable satisfied smile appeared on Haruka's face. "I asked you first. Although it seems like I already got the answer. You really are a Saiyan."

"And I didn't get my answer." The man stood up now. He was surprisingly tall; a lot taller than Haruka who wasn't short at all. He looked down at the girl as his eyes narrowed.

"Honestly, if they start letting women and children here then I'm seriously going to find a new place to live," he commented sarcastically.

Haruka's eyes narrowed too. Being a professional motocross racer, she often heard comments about how a girl should act and how she shouldn't, therefore the subject nearly always pissed her off. Usually she had her boyish look and attitude to protect her but since they had left early in the morning then she was only wearing a pair of jeans and a tight T-shirt. And she felt vulnerable. But she never forgot an insult and she always found a way to pay back. Generally very fast.

"Good for you," she replied cynically, "then they won't have to stand you here any more."

The man snorted and grabbed Haruka's throat. "Listen, you…" He didn't get any further as her knee rammed straight into… well, the nearest spot to her knee.

"And to imagine that "you fight like a girl" is considered an insult," Haruka remarked with a grin while the man was getting up from the ground and glaring at her. "Okay, I didn't come here to fight. To answer your question, my name's Haruka, sometimes known as Sailor Uranus. I'm a Sailor Soldier. I came here to find a friend of mine, I suppose you haven't seen her around…?"

The man growled. "Her? You mean a girl? Yeah, I saw one some time ago… black hair, purple eyes, skinny and pale, looked like she was about to get a nervous breakdown."

"That's her. Which way did she go?" Haruka asked.

"Somewhere over there," the man pointed towards the fields "But now she's over there," he pointed to another direction. "I've been keeping an eye on her aura. It's suspicious. Feels like many auras in one person."

Haruka blinked. "This is **not** good…"

"Do you think the demons of the Dead Zone are trying to get out?" Trunks asked her. The girl rolled her eyes.

"Well, duh. But I had no idea that they were able to get out even when Hotaru's dead. We need to find her, and fast. Hey you, can you help us track her down?"

The man stared at her. "You just kicked me in the… why the heck should I help you?"

Haruka shrugged. "You insulted me first. And you don't seem to have much else to do anyway."

The man frowned. "Fine then. But just because I'm bored. That way." He floated up in the air and flew off towards the distance. Trunks quickly lifted the table up, Haruka hopped on and the three followed the man.

"I didn't get your name," Haruka said as they had caught up with the man.

"Bardock," he replied without even turning the head. "Why would you care?"


	8. Time is running out

**Chapter 8 – Time is running out**

"Bardock, Bardock, where have I heard that name before?" Goten muttered.

Haruka smiled. "Bardock, a Saiyan low-class soldier, accidentally overheard lord Freeza's plans to wipe the Saiyan race off the face of the Universe… he tried to warn the people but nobody believed him and he was too weak to defeat Freeza although he tried. That's how Freeza could annihilate the Saiyan race. If the other Saiyans would've believed him," she looked at Bardock, "then they might've had a chance against the tyrant. Since Freeza was afraid of them."

Bardock stopped flying and stared at the girl. "How do you know that?"

Trunks stopped as well. "Yeah, how? I remember the story too but I didn't know you've heard of it."

"Vegeta told me the story," Haruka replied, "and Sailor Pluto has given me some background info as well. A sad story, actually, but such things happen on a daily basis."

"Vegeta… you don't mean King Vegeta, do you?" Bardock demanded.

Haruka shook her head. "Are you kidding? King Vegeta died a very long time ago, Prince Vegeta was about eight years old them." She grinned. "Now _his_ son's about eight years old. Time really flies around here, huh?"

"So Prince Vegeta survived the explosion?" Suddenly Bardock was utterly excited. "The Saiyan race isn't gone yet?"

"Could we keep flying? We may not have much time. Yeah, two Saiyans survived the explosion," Haruka added as the table dashed forward again. "One of them was prince Vegeta. The other one was your son."

Bardock stopped again, staring at Haruka. "My son is alive?"

"You were supposed to show us the way," Haruka reminded him, "and it's gonna be hard when you stop and stare every two minutes. Yeah, your son is alive. At least he was the last time I checked."

"You know his son too, Haruka?" Trunks asked her. The girl frowned.

"Honestly, do you ever pay any attention to your father's stories? We all know his son. His name is Kakarot and he was sent to Earth in a space pod a little after he was born. To enslave all people living on the planet," she added thoughtfully.

"Hey but that means… that means you're my grandpa!" Goten suddenly shouted and turned to fly backwards in front of Bardock's face. "Cool! I didn't expect to see you here!"

This time Bardock wasn't that surprised. "So you're Kakarot's son?" he remarked with a grin. "Yeah… I can see the similarities. You look just like he did when I saw him for the first and practically the last time."

"Dad has to meet you!" Goten announced. "Say Haruka, once we've found Hotaru, shall we take him to Dad, huh, huh?"

"First we need to find Hotaru," the girl replied with a concerned frown. "How much longer?"

"Down there." The Saiyan warrior descended into a small grove and Trunks landed the table.

There she was. Hotaru, or actually Sailor Saturn, was sitting on a rock, holding the Silence Glaive and looking into nothingness. She didn't turn her head when Haruka approached her.

"Hotaru… what's wrong?" she asked quietly.

"Go… away…" the girl muttered, "too dangerous… they're coming through. Soon… too soon…"

"We need to call Goku and Vegeta," Haruka said, looking at Hotaru. "This seems serious."

"Allow me!" Trunks concentrated his energies and sent out an invisible but powerful aura blast.

"Dad's coming," he said in a few seconds, "but I don't know where Goku is."

"He's late, as always," said Vegeta, the prince of the Saiyans, landing by the table. "I see you've found her. What's going on with her?"

"I'd say that the demon didn't open the portal but it unlocked the door," Haruka said with a frown. "And it's only the matter of time when all those creatures find a way to come through."

Vegeta frowned. "And since dead auras are a lot closer to the Dead Zone than living auras, it's gonna be a lot easier for them. Would you look at that, I didn't expect to see you here." He had noticed Bardock. The Saiyan blinked and then kneeled down.

"Prince Vegeta," he said. "You have…" he hesitated, "aged."

"Yeah, that's what happens when you're alive," Vegeta agreed. "How come you're on Dai Kaio's planet?"

"They sent me here because they said that I had sacrificed my life for my people and my planet," Bardock replied. "Although I failed rescuing them," he added, lowering his head.

"Even I did," Vegeta grinned grimly, "Freeza was simply too strong. But now he's dead, in the Hell…"

"Or somewhere near it," Goten chortled, remembering Freeza's high flight over the sharp mountains.

"Precisely," the prince smirked. "And we have much bigger problems than some stupid old tyrant." He looked at Hotaru. "Where's that clown when you need him?" he asked.

"Perhaps he got lost," Haruka supposed, knowing that the prince meant Goku.

"Even he wouldn't be able to get lost on a planet that consists of two trees and a field," Vegeta claimed. "One way or another, we'll find him soon, right now we need to do something with Hotaru." He looked at the girl. "If all those creatures of the Dead Zone break out onto this planet, this wouldn't be so bad, since there are so many strong warriors here that they may even be able to defeat the demons. But if they fail doing that then the demons have a free way to any part of the Universe and then it would take an eternity to find them all again."

"Not to mention that when this misty darkness thing decides to return one fine day, we won't have a Universe any more," Haruka added.

"Then we have to lock the door again," Goten said. "Nice and simple. All we have to do is find the key."

"The key is missing," Trunks snapped, "and we won't be able to find it before they come out."

"There may be another way," Bardock, who was still kneeling, suddenly interjected. "But tell me first, what exactly is going on?"

After hearing the whole story he nodded, stood up again even though Vegeta hadn't given him the permission and said: "If you can't prevent them coming, you need to lock them up somewhere else; somewhere safe enough to keep them for eternity."

"That's nice," Haruka grunted sarcastically," perhaps you happen to know some professional demon herders? Previous experience essential, good salary if they survive, must know how to deal with bigger amounts of demons, more or less twenty thousand heads."

Bardock didn't mind the sarcasm. "Got better ideas?"

"Dad's coming, maybe he has some ideas," Goten said, looking up. A few minutes later Goku landed in front of them.

"Sorry I'm late," he said, "I got into this little quarrel with a wiseguy that claimed that he was stronger than me… I would've kicked his butt within a minute but they wanted me to wait until they're done with all the betting and stuff. Who's the guy with my hairdo?" He had noticed Bardock.

"That's Bardock," Vegeta said. "He's your father."

Goku raised his eyebrows. "No kidding??" He examined Bardock and then scratched his head. "Whoa, nice to meet you! I didn't even know you were here, otherwise I would've looked you up the last time I was here."

"That's all very sweet," Vegeta said with a frown, "but we should really figure out what to do with a couple of thousand powerful demons. And most of them are either undefeatable or immortal, otherwise they wouldn't be sitting there but would be long dead."

"Well, there are plenty of other Dead Zone-like dimensions to keep them," Goku remarked, "but it may be _really_ complicated to get them in there."

"Unless we send Hotaru to some of those dimensions before the demons break out," Trunks suggested.

Haruka glared at him. "No way!!!"

"She's already dead," Trunks claimed, "the demons can't do anything to her any more. And as soon as the Dragonballs regain their powers, we can call Hotaru back from there."

"True," Haruka nodded slowly, "but then we'd use that wish for calling her back and what happens when our misty darkness buddy shows up again? And besides, I'd like to get home one fine day as well."

"That's altogether three wishes, that will take a whole year," Vegeta said with a slight grin. Haruka glanced at him.

"I'm not going to stand another year sitting on your planet and knowing nothing about **my** home planet!" she announced.

"You don't have to worry about that any more," Trunks said. "In case you have forgotten, we now know how to contact that... Sailor Pluto, was it? And I'm sure that she knows how to send you home."

"Yeah, after she has given us a long lecture about now forbidden such things are," the girl snorted. "You're actually right, she can help us. But we still have two very urgent things to deal with: that," she looked at Hotaru, "and that demon thing that can be hell-knows-where at the moment."

"And only one wish," Vegeta reminded her.

Goku thought for a moment. "There are always the Namekian Dragonballs..."

"Yeah, good luck teleporting there," Goten snapped.

"But we can still contact them and ask them do deal with the wish," Goku claimed.

"In case Porunga will be able to grant the wish," Vegeta said.

"No, he won't," Bardock suddenly remarked. "Don't you people ever read the local news?"

The others glanced at him. "Local... you mean the local Dai Kaio planet news?" Goku asked slowly.

"Nah, I meant the local Afterworld news," the Saiyan replied. He had sat down under a tree again and was now gnawing on a little straw. "Perhaps you don't know this but we are pretty well informed about everything that is going on in the world of the living. It wasn't that long time ago when there was this huge battle with the demon Buu on Earth."

"It was more than half a year ago," Vegeta snorted. "And I remember it well because I fought him too!"

Bardock didn't mind that. "I didn't know that but I'm not surprised. Who else could've defeated that demon than full-blooded Saiyans?" They could hear the pride in his voice. "One way or another, that fight both on Earth and afterwards on the Supreme Kais' planet caused a lot of trouble. Many things had to be repaired; and awfully fast too. There was lots of paperwork," he grunted, "those ogres are so addicted to all sorts of documents that they'd believe that death doesn't exist if someone would give them a signed document to claim that. Those things take time. Even though life seems to be back in order, many temporary rules are still up to date and have to be followed." He picked another straw. "One of those rules was to stop any kind of contacting other planets. As soon as someone anywhere in the universe would happen to travel to another planet or even contact it in any way, it's automatically considered illegal and the person doing it will be thrown into the dungeons of Hell until further orders. Or so I've heard."

Goten blinked. "But... Trunks and went to another planet some weeks ago. And... uhm... returned some days ago... are we going to jail now?"

Bardock raised his eyebrows. "Check it out, what a coincidence... so these were you two? You'd be surprised of that ruckus your travelling caused over here. All ogres were so busy with all sorts of phone calls and paperwork that we didn't get any lunch for three days. I think Baba fixed the problem though. She had said that you were the ones that fought Buu and therefore the laws shouldn't affect you."

"So we could still contact Namek because the laws don't affect us?" Trunks asked excitedly.

"Only when you get a direct permission from the Dai Kaio himself," Bardock warned him, "because pushing your luck like that is an awfully bad idea in the Afterworld. Especially when it affects our lunchtimes," he added with a glare.

Vegeta snorted. "A pointless arguement over a pointless law. Kakarot, let's go and find King Kai. Someone needs to save the universe here and nobody else is going to do that for us, you know that."

"King Kai? Of the North? He won't help you." Bardock picked another straw. "He's a law-following maniac and besides, he doesn't like sitting three days without lunch either."

Haruka had turned extremely impatient in the meantime. "Namek or no Namek, who cares about that right now? We need to do something with Hotaru. Now. Fast. Locking her up into some dimension when the Dead Zone inhabitants can't get out is actually a good idea but where, if I may ask, can we find a place like that?"

"There is a place; it's not exactly the safest but the only one I can think of at the moment," Goku said. "I sure hope that the instant translocation works well this time. Someone get Hotaru, we're moving on." He waved goodbye to Bardock. "Bye Dad… I'm sure we'll meet again!"

"Hrmh, yeah," the Saiyan muttered with a slight smile.


	9. Pegasus's help

**Chapter 9 – Pegasus's help**

The instant translocation didn't work out exactly as planned but at least it more or less did the trick. After they had gone through the transportation, they found themselves floating in the air right next to Karin-sama's tower. Haruka was still sitting on the table, keeping an eye on Hotaru who was quite obviously a little messed up.

"Are we supposed to be here?" Goten asked his father.

"Almost; I wanted to go to Dende's," Goku replied. "Let's get up there."

"Now I get it… you want to use the Hyperbolic Time Chamber," Vegeta said. "Not a bad idea but I hope you remember that it was easy for demon Buu to get out of it."

"I told you it wasn't the safest place," Goku agreed, "but I don't have anything else to come out with. I know the passage was broken in the meantime but I also know that Dende fixed it. We'll put Hotaru there and then we have some time to figure out what to do with those other two urgent things."

Dende gladly agreed to put Hotaru in the chamber. "It may be a bit lonely in there and the air is most likely bad for her… not to mention the gravity… but that really is the only thing we can do. This way."

Haruka looked into Hotaru's empty eyes as she led her down the hallway towards the chamber door. "I don't think she really cares about the loneliness or anything else," she said. "and as the creatures come out, being alone will be her smallest problem."

"A day out here will last a year in there," Dende reminded them all, "so the faster you're able to get her out, the better for her. Otherwise she may lose her mind in there."

Haruka poked the small golden halo above Hotaru's head. It gave a quiet tune. "She's already dead and almost," she waved her hand in front of Hotaru's eyes; the girl didn't even blink. "well, completely out in her own little world. I just hope something won't take her mind over while she's in there."

"I don't think it can be done any more," Vegeta said. "She felt so bad after realizing that she can't protect us from that portal in her mind. I'm sure that whenever something tries to attack her mind now, she gives the angriest possible reaction there is. And I'd say that this girl's mental powers are enormous."

Dende opened the door to the chamber and they saw a small room with an endless white plain behind it. Haruka gently pushed Hotaru in and they closed the door.

"Several hours have already passed for her," Goku said. "I wouldn't be surprised if those things would be out there for now. We should go home to discuss things with the girls and Gohan and there's no time to waste."

* * *

"Honestly, that's a bit too much for me for one lousy morning," Bulma announced. "Hotaru's in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, the demons are already out there and Goku found his father? And most importantly… what have you done to my table?"

Vegeta sighed. "Forget about your stupid table already. The Dead Zone inhabitants aren't the biggest problems any more… at least for now. We need to summon the Dragonballs and annihilate that demon. And the sooner, the better."

The woman frowned. "Well, we can't do anything about the Dragonballs yet. There's still one and a half weeks to go until they have regained their powers. Until then, well, all we **_can_** do is to wait and hope that this thing won't return too early."

Haruka snorted and slammed her fist onto the table. "Always with the sitting and waiting. **Always**! Honestly, it just won't do. If you ask me, we need to contact that Namek and tell them to use their Dragonballs, no matter what the consequences."

"The consequences would be that you'll end up in the prison of the Afterworld, playing checkers with good old Freeza," Trunks remarked. The girl groaned.

"Couldn't care less."

"Or," Vegeta suddenly said; everyone turned to look at him, "we could try and find the demon and destroy it by ourselves."

"Easy for you to say," Goku frowned. "Remember our last fight?"

"So this time we need to use different tactics. No big deal. If that, who was it again, Sailor Pluto was able to turn its powers against it, I don't see any reason why we couldn't." the Saiyan prince claimed.

"I'll give you a reason," Michiru said with a frown. "Setsuna, or Pluto, if you like it that way, is extremely wise and powerful. She was born when the Time was born. You can be all the Saiyan warrior you want to be but against her powers…" She shook her head. "Don't even try to compare."

"Then we'll ask her to help," Goten said. Michiru sighed and shook her head.

"She has already done everything she can. The demon can't be tricked twice. At least not the same way. Haruka, what's that in your back pocket?"

Haruka blinked and looked over her shoulder to see the flower bouquet Dabra had given her. "Just a little something I got earlier today," she replied with a smirk.

"Who gave it?" Michiru persisted.

"A secret admirer…" Haruka laughed and turned around to leave the kitchen. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have an appointment."

"With whom? Or is this a secret too, like with Michiru?" Gohan asked.

"No, it's not a secret." They could still hear Haruka's voice as the girl headed to her room. "I need to talk to Pegasus."

* * *

"And I was hoping that you got rid of that demon once and for all," Pegasus sighed after hearing the story. He was standing in the middle of Haruka's room, thoughtfully gnawing on the curtain as the rest of the house's inhabitants were staring at him on the doorway. Haruka, sitting on her bed and waiting for Pegasus's reaction, now scratched her head.

"I was actually hoping that you're able to give us some helpful information," she said.

The winged unicorn let the curtain go and turned his head to look at Haruka. "I can't give you more info than you already know. Materialistic things like the Saiyans' powers and your Space Sword, not to mention the powers of other Sailor Soldiers, they won't harm it."

Haruka raised her hand and the Space Sword appeared. She pulled it out of its sheathe and looked at its dark red energy blade. "Materialistic, you say?"

"It is," Pegasus nodded. "Energy is materialistic. You guys always fight with energy. True, it's more powerful than those man-made weapons but they still don't overcome the power of other dimensions. Saturn was different, she fought with a lot more than simple energy," he added with a frown, "but you can't count on her any more."

The Space Sword disappeared again. "Can't you bring her out from the Hyperbolic Time Chamber?" the girl asked. Pegasus shook his head.

"The creatures that have broken out in there by now would kill me in the matter of seconds."

"So we can't fight with energy," Vegeta said. "To sum all this pointless babble up, what _do_ we need to fight with?"

Pegasus smiled. "In one word? Magic."

Haruka snorted, stood up and went to the window. "By all means, this story is turning into a Harry Potter nightmare!" She rolled her eyes. "Why don't we just call the Fairy Queen or something to save the day?"

"Well, you wanted info, I gave you info," Pegasus grinned slightly. "And that idea of yours, about the Dragonballs, is actually very good… if you were able to use it a bit earlier. But I'm afraid that the demon will return before the crystal balls regain their powers. After all, it didn't lose that much energy. In short, you need to think of some other way to trick it again to win more time until you get to use the Dragonballs. Is that a flower bouquet in your back pocket?"

Haruka took a deep breath. "What's wrong with you people? Geez, if I want to wear flowers in my back pocket, I have the right to do so, or what? Here," she grabbed the bouquet and stuck it behind Pegasus's ear, "you can keep it."

Trunks and Goten squeaked and tried to act like they weren't trying to hold back laughter. But Pegasus seemed surprised. He pushed his head up, trying to sniff the flowers.

"Are these… from the Heaven?" he asked with great surprise, smelling the delicate, sweet fragrance.

Haruka was still pouting. "Yeah. So?"

Pegasus grinned and shook his head, letting the flowers fall on the floor. "These belong to you. I'm not going to wonder about how you got these but I can tell you, these are far more valuable than you think. The flowers of Heaven can't be underestimated. Besides, the fact that you were able to bring them out of the Afterworld shows that they'll bring you luck." He grabbed the bouquet with his teeth and stuck them back into Haruka's back pocket. "Don't lose them. After all, they're from the Heaven."

Haruka blinked, frowning at Pegasus's sharp golden horn that had been dangerously close to her butt. "Fine, fine. I'll keep the weed. Now, would you tell us how to trick that fistful of smoke? The Dragonballs are out of the question and unless you know some fairy queens, I don't see any other way."

"Well, there's always…" Pegasus hesitated, "the Golden Crystal."

"The one in your horn?" Michiru asked in surprise. Pegasus nodded. "But we can't take the crystal; you need it in your world!"

"Is his world more important than ours?" Bulma asked.

Michiru and Haruka both frowned. "His world is the world of dreams."

Bulma blinked. "Oh…"

"Then it's a dead circle. We can't take your crystal since without it the world of dreams would collapse. If we won't use the crystal, everything will be destroyed." Haruka sat back on the bed. "This is growing over my head…" She looked at Pegasus. "Unless you come and fight for us. You can use the crystal without having to remove it."

Pegasus hesitated again. "I'm not sure… The Golden Crystal may not be that powerful and things are unstable enough out there without me hopping back and forth between those two worlds. I should get going anyway. But I'll try and give my best to work things out in Elysion by the time the demon returns. I can't promise anything though."

"There's one thing you can and will promise to do," Michiru said in a sharp voice. "I know you're able to do it. Find out where the demon is and what it's up to. We must know when, where and how it will return. And don't even try to argue with me here," she added.

Pegasus sighed, nodded, raised his wings and disappeared, leaving nothing but some glitter behind. Haruka lied down on the bed.

"And we're back sitting and waiting," she said with a frown, looking at the ceiling. "Is it dinnertime yet?"

But Pegasus worked faster than they had expected. In the evening when they had all gathered in the living room to watch TV, something flashed behind the window and the unicorn flew in through it. Luckily the window was opened and big enough.

"Found it," he announced, landing in front of the TV. Vegeta grabbed the remote and turned the set off.

"Shoot," he said.

"It escaped into nightmares," Pegasus explained. "Quite predictable, therefore I was able to find it so fast. There's a city on this planet that's suffering form a real nightmare epidemic at the moment. It's clever enough to take only little energy at a time. The people think that they feel tired in the morning because they didn't sleep well last night; actually it's because of lost energy. Drained energy, in fact."

"That makes no sense," Goku said in surprise. "It eats energy but energy doesn't harm it."

"If someone throws an apple pie at you, will it harm you?" Pegasus asked back.

Goku scratched his head. "Well, if it's a really, really, _really_ big apple pie…"

"So, if we'd attack it with a lot of energy…" Goten muttered. Pegasus frowned.

"You're using your own three-dimensional theory. We're talking about a dream demon here."

"When will it be powerful enough to come back?" Michiru demanded. Pegasus slowly shook his head.

"There's no telling. Maybe a week, maybe a month, once it decides to make a very fast and surprising comeback, it can also use one single night to drain everything out of that city and return with a blast. I'd predict the last variant. After all, it must know that I'm in touch with you guys and right now it's pretty obviously on my territory."

"Can't you isolate it in any way?" Gohan asked.

Pegasus thought for a moment. "I can try. But it wouldn't end well as it will definitely try to break loose and that would seriously harm all the people it's right now in contact with."

"Try it anyway," Vegeta said. "The Dragonballs will heal anything that demon may do to them. Right now time is our enemy and we need to use everything we can to win some time."

Trunks hopped up. "But Sailor Pluto watches after time! She can't be our enemy! She can freeze time; can't she freeze the demon for a week and a half?"

"Risking her life and the whole Space and Time? As the very last alternative, we can try that. But that may put and end to everything we know," Haruka warned him.

"So… try to find out when exactly it's planning to return," Michiru told Pegasus. "Even if you're able to warn us five minutes before its returning, it would still help. Friday the 13th is out of the question now; I don't think there are other magical dates when it can return with, you know," she rolled her eyes, "style."

Pegasus nodded. "I don't think it will be too happy to contact me but I can try."

The Saiyan prince snarled. "That has got to be the luckiest demon alive. We can't use the Dragonballs, we can't kick its butt and we can't freeze it in time. What _can_ we do, if I may ask?"

"Generally all you _can_ do is to strengthen your mind to keep the demon away from your dreams as long as possible, like Hotaru did," Pegasus said thoughtfully. "But that would take days and days of severe…"

"Training," Bulma and Chichi remarked grimly as a wide grin appeared on Vegeta's face. The Saiyan turned around and left the room.

"I'll show up for breakfast," he said over his shoulder. "Trunks, Gohan, Goten, I suggest you to train as well. Children's minds are rather weak and you'd be easy to defeat for it."

"Hey…" Goten argued but Gohan stopped him. "He's right, you know. We should train. Training your mind is always harder than training your body."

His little brother snorted, sighed and nodded. The three left the room after Vegeta and Goku followed them as well.

Haruka looked at Pegasus. "And you really think that training will help them in such short time?"

The winged unicorn shook his head. "No. Although they're full of surprises and I'd be glad if they'd really manage to learn to close their minds for that demon. It's not very likely to happen but at least they have the feeling that they can do something about it."

Haruka frowned. "What about us then?"

"Just wait. I'll try to come when it's time and fight for you," Pegasus promised. "And I'll try to talk Pluto into it as well. She could help a lot." He stretched his wings and flew out of the window.

"Well, that was reassuring," Michiru commented. Haruka sighed, sat down and grabbed the remote.

"Fine then. Whatever's meant to come, will come. Let's just sit back, relax and enjoy our last days in this world. I should've signed up in Freeza's poker club when I had the chance though…"

"Don't be so pessimistic," Bulma smiled. "Things have worked out before, I'm sure that they'll work out this time too."

_Author's Note: Yeah, I know. Lotsa talking, no action. That's what happens when you get too many inspiration shots at a time. Actually I didn't mean to make it as long but so far only half of all the chapters are uploaded :3 Ookay, time to get things more interesting. Next chapter - a haunted house..._


	10. A haunted house

**Chapter 10 – A haunted house**

Two days had passed. The Saiyans had spent most of the time meditating, eating and sleeping as Haruka and Michiru had really just enjoyed that unexpected visit to another planet.

"Could someone pass the french fries?" Goten asked at the dinner table.

"These are very unhealthy," Chichi warned him as Trunks reached the bowl over the table.

Goten shrugged. "We may not live much longer; might as well enjoy the last days."

Chichi's face turned pale. "**Don't** speak like that!"

They were all quiet for a few minutes. Even though they didn't talk about the situation much, they could still always feel the grim, ominous feeling of hopelessness hanging above their heads.

"I have my old good luck charm; perhaps it'll work as a magic item…" Bulma muttered quietly. A cheap little amulet, an old memory from the days Goku and she had been travelling around the world looking for the Dragonballs was hanging on her chest.

"Yeah, and Haruka still has her heavenly bouquet from her secret admirer," Michiru teased, referring to the bouquet that was still in Haruka's back pocket. "We should all feel so much better now."

The Saiyan brats chortled. Vegeta grinned slightly. Goku burst into laughter but unfortunately he had been drinking milk at the same moment so most of that milk ended up on Gohan's face. The ominous feeling was suddenly gone and they all burst into laughter at the same time.

"Darnit Dad, how do you expect me to go to the Afterworld smelling like a baby?" Gohan complained, trying to hold back laughter as well.

Haruka grinned. "Where's your problem? I'll most likely go there smelling like a cheap bitch." She looked over her shoulder at the flowers. They were a lot flatter than before but since the girl hadn't had the time to put them in the water and the flowers didn't seem to wither either, she had just left them in the pocket.

"Cheap bitches don't smell like that," Trunks claimed. Everyone stared at him. Trunks raised his brows.

"What? Haven't you ever been to those slums with bad reputation?"

"And you have?" Bulma gave him a glance.

Haruka sniffed the fragrance that had been floating all around her for three days now. "True… nothing like the slums, really."

Michiru raised her brows too. "Wanna talk about it?" Haruka bit the piece of beefsteak, mumbled something with her mouth full and grinned widely. Bulma got up, went to the window and closed it.

"The wind is picking up," she said. "It has been cloudy all day but now it looks like there's gonna be a storm tonight."

"No wonder. There are always many storms around here at this time of the year," Vegeta remarked.

"Not only around here," Michiru added, remembering the time when she and Haruka had left their home planet.

"That is _so_ annoying…" Bulma started but before she got any further, the window flew open again and a chilly breeze whizzed in. The woman rushed to the window and closed it.

"Like I was saying," she remarked. On that same second the window crashed open again. The big kitchen lamp suddenly faded out and they were left sitting in the shadows. Only the small lamp above the stove was now lighting the room.

"Stupid wires…" the woman snorted, turning the lights on. The merry atmosphere was gone. Everyone was looking around suspiciously, trying to predict what would happen next. Another breeze came and this time all the lights in the kitchen died away.

"Fe-fi-fo-fum, I think there's a demon on the run…" Haruka remarked quietly. Her voice was so gravely and deep in the cold, dark kitchen that the others got chills.

Bulma frowned, pushing the switch. It didn't work. "Nonsense. It's nothing but a power cut. Vegeta, lights please." The Saiyan formed a small energy orb that lit the kitchen. The other Saiyans used their energy as well to light the room and Haruka pulled her Space Sword out, just in case.

"I really hate it when things like that happen at dinnertime," Chichi said with a frown. But her voice was shaking.

"You're all acting like you've never experienced a power cut before," Goku said. "Haruka, you could check the fuse box. I think something has short-circuited."

"Yeah, and I'm now the electrician," the girl replied. "Fine then. Bulma, where do you keep the fuse box?"

They went to the basement. Haruka was in front of everyone else, lighting the way with her glowing Space Sword. She was right in the middle of the staircase leading to the basement when she stopped and tried hard to look forward into the darkness.

"Bulma… do you have rats here?" she asked.

"Never seen any…" Bulma replied. "Why?" Her voice was trembling.

Haruka didn't answer. And as she was standing there silently, the others could hear an eerie sound coming from the dark. It sounded like…

…thousands and thousands of rats.

"Oh my…" Chichi's voice faded away as her face turned even paler than it already was. Michiru quickly raised her hand to call the Aqua Mirror. It didn't give much light but it gave a bluish glow that reminded of the depths of an ocean and was actually very relaxing.

Haruka's Space Sword, on the contrary, glowed very brightly. "Looks like you have an invasion here!" she shouted, dashing forward. "Take that, you little dirtbags!" The sword whizzed through the air. They could hear many loud screeches that weren't very rat-like as the crescent of energy hit the mysterious creatures of the dark.

Vegeta suddenly blinked as if he had been awakened from a dream. "And why the heck am I still standing here? Hey Haruka, leave some for me too!" He leaped forward, landing next to the girl that was now trying to keep her feet clean of rats.

"Nothing to worry about, there's plenty for both of us!" she gasped, attacking the rodents. "Damnit, where do they all come from? Uranus Crystal Power!"

As the girl transformed, her energy lit the whole basement. Both Bulma and Chichi screamed since it was really full of rats. But Michiru quickly transformed too and the Saiyans rushed into battle.

"These are not normal rats!" Gohan shouted, sending energy blasts out to several directions.

"No shit Sherlock... do normal rats have three red eyes?" Vegeta shouted back at him. "But there seem to be less now. Just a little longer and we have wiped them out."

He was right; in a couple of minutes the basement was clean. Bulma and Chichi were trembling as they all went to the fuse box. Uranus opened the box.

"Watch my back," she demanded. "I don't want any more of such surprises." She examined the inside of the box. "Funny… the fuses are all okay. The problem must be somewhere else… or maybe… what in the world?"

"Watch out!" Sailor Neptune dashed forward, pushing her friend aside. They both landed on the cold ground as someone's black hand with green outlines reached out from the fuse box, making a gesture as if it was trying to grab someone's throat.

"Don't even think about it!" Trunks slammed his elbow into the arm. For everyone's surprise it didn't go through the arm although the arm itself seemed to made of mist. The arm cracked and a high-pitched scream filled the basement. Then someone – or something – pulled the broken arm back.

"Ouch," Uranus commented, getting up and helping Neptune up too. "Thanks, Michiru. This place has turned into a haunted house."

"So far so good," Vegeta frowned. "It's just trying to scare us. If you're saying that the fuse box isn't broken, we might as well get out of here and see if we can find the source of all this somewhere upstairs."

They went back up again and Haruka pushed the door open. She looked at the corridor for a moment and then asked over her shoulder:

"Say Bulma… when was the last time you cleaned the house?".

The corridor wasn't the same any more. It was cold, moldy and the wallpaper was hanging down from the walls. And the place seemed endless. It was like a bad dream.

"Reminds me of "Silent Hill 2" Trunks muttered in surprise. The others glanced at him.

"The hero goes into an old hotel, watches a video in one of the rooms and when he leaves the room again, the whole hotel suddenly looks like this." the kid explained. "It was a darn good game" he added.

"Let's get out of here" Bulma whispered. "Let's get outside."

"I'd be surprised if we'd be able to get out of this corridor" Goku remarked. "Where's the way out"

"There was a door... somewhere over there" Vegeta pointed to one direction. The corridor simply stretched out to both directions, disappearing into darkness. They started going but in a few minutes it was very obvious that they were getting nowhere. And as they looked back, the door to the basement was nowhere to be seen either.

"We must've walked for half a mile now" Goten said. "Is your house really that big"

"No" Vegeta frowned. "Let's see..." He slammed his fist into the wall. For everyone's great surprise it didn't break. The Saiyan prince's eyes turned big as he examined the wall and then his fist.

"We need to think of something else" Goku murmured. "This here isn't the same house any more. We're in some sort of another dimension."

Bulma suddenly smiled. "I doubt it. Everybody, take each other's hands and form a chain." She went in front of the chain and took a deep breath. "Now close your eyes."

"Have you lost it" Vegeta glared at her.

"Just do it... now let's see... we should be somewhere near the basement door." She took a few steps forward and stopped. "This should be where the old plug is." She went on a few more steps, pulling the others with her. Their eyes were still tightly closed and they could feel the scent of cold moldy walls next to them. "This is where I drew a picture of a horse on the wall when I was five. And this picture was right next to" she raised her hand"the door to the living room."

She pulled the door open.

"I know my home" she said with a smile and opened her eyes.

They were in the living room now and it was as normal as always. Even though the room was very cold and dark, it was most definitely their good old living room with the wide screen TV and Trunks's video games. Michiru peeked back in the corridor, just to make sure.

"Back to normal..." she whispered.

"I'd love to see what happens next," Gohan said with a frown. "Whoever or whatever is doing this, they must be doing it with a purpose. So sooner or later I'm sure we'll find it out."

"What's wrong with the moon?" Chichi suddenly asked. The others turned to look at the full moon that was shining straight into the room, giving it a silvery glow. But the moon itself wasn't silver; it was pinkish red.

"It's the demon!" Trunks yelled on top of his lungs.

His father frowned. "Don't be stupid. It's nothing but a moon eclipse. Haven't you ever seen one before? Those things happen every other month or so, even more often." He looked up at the moon. "It's a sad thing I don't have my tail any more. No demon would be a match against the power of an Oozaru. Although... when the full moon is eclipsed, the Oozarus can't be formed. This is the time of darker forces."

"What do you mean?" Haruka asked him. Vegeta shrugged.

"When the light sources of the planet, either the sun or the moon, are covered, the dark powers of the planet are a lot mightier than usually. Makes sense, doesn't it? No light, more dark."

Michiru nodded slowly. "True... Haruka, remember that last sun eclipse in Tokyo? That's when Queen Nehelenia came with her circus tent. We should've thought of that before! Friday the 13th doesn't happen often but moon eclipses do. I'm pretty damn sure that our demon buddy..."

"Is right here," an unpleasantly familiar voice announced. Everyone turned around to see that the window flew wide open and a dark shadow slid in. It curled itself around their waists, crawled up their feet, surrounded their heads and filled their hearts with terrible cold. Then it started forming into something. In the matter of seconds the ominous, frosty-eyed, sharp-clawed, black-winged figure was standing in the middle of the room again. Its outlines weren't clear, it was obvious that it was able to take any shape it wanted. It just preferred to have claws and wings.

"And we meet yet again," it said. "My little tricks gave you quite a fright down there, didn't they?"


	11. One problem down

**Chapter 11 – One problem down**

Bulma, even though she seemed terrified, suddenly snorted. "Oh yeah. A few rats in the basement. The only thing here that scares me is the fact that it's gonna take me three days to clean this whole place up."

The demon's cold eyes stopped on her. Then it looked at the Saiyans and said:

"I am here to take the world over. You know you can't fight me. What are you doing here then?"

"Trying," Goku replied.

"**And** living here," Vegeta added with a frown.

"Any specific reason you came _here_ to take the world over?" Haruka asked, frowning as well. The demon grinned at her, showing its long silvery white fangs.

"You," it looked at the Saiyans and the two Sailor Soldiers, "you sent me to the Dead Zone. That was not very nice. And one of you tricked me some time ago so that I was forced to escape into nightmares. I had to use the help of my greatest enemy to get out of there… even though he didn't want to help me. But only thanks to his world, his powers, I was able to regain my strength again. And I do not like to owe someone something."

"Is he talking about Pegasus?" Goten whispered to Michiru who nodded.

The demon overheard it. Suddenly its grin turned into an angry grimace. "Yes, Helios, the Prince of Dreams. Or Pegasus, if you prefer to call him with that name. I will destroy you first, all of you, because you defeated me once. I want my REVENGE!"

With that last word that was actually a shout the demon spread out its wings and raised its arms. Long dark shadows appeared on the walls. They reminded of the shadows Hotaru had used to protect her mind when she slept but these shadows had been peaceful. The ones that were now sliding towards the Saiyans were hissing and furious. Remembering what had happened to Sailor Pluto, everyone gathered together in the middle of the room, farther away from the shadows. It was obviously not helping though as the shadows crept closer like merciless fate.

"Okay, does anyone know how to turn those shadows against that demon like Pluto did?" Goten squeaked.

"Get back to me in about ten thousand years," Haruka snapped, peering at the shadows with concern.

Vegeta raised his hand, formed an energy blast and sent it towards one of the shadows. The blast went right through it and broke a hole into the wall. Bulma gasped:

"Vegeta, please! I'm having enough trouble with your training room already!"

"Pegasus promised to come and help us!" Trunks claimed, looking around frantically.

The demon cackled. "This house is isolated. He's not coming through my dome of dark magic."

Haruka took several steps back, noticed that she had backed towards another shadow and stepped ahead again. She felt like a trapped animal. "Magic… magic… no energy, just magic…" Pegasus's words haunted in her head. "But I'm not a magician… none of us is! We're doomed."

Suddenly she calmed down.

"Doomed…" the thought raced through her head. "So what? This day had to come sooner or later. And you know it. You've always known it. You little fool, trying to change the unchangeable… just face your destiny. Do you hear me, you little crybaby? For once, just for once, face your destiny!"

The girl gasped. She wasn't even sure if the thought had been hers of had someone else put it in her head. She pressed her head between her palms and moaned quietly. Haruka had never been good at admitting her failure. But all of a sudden she had done it without even noticing it and knowing that made her completely calm. She opened her eyes again and looked around. The shadows were very close. One of them was about to attack Michiru.

Haruka smiled.

"You've risked your life for mine, I've risked my life for yours," another thought flashed through her head. This one was completely hers now. "For how many times now…?" And she leaped in front of that shadow.

The whole room turned bright. A high-pitched scream filled the place but it was neither Michiru's nor Haruka's. As the light faded away, the dark shadows were gone and the room wasn't as cold as before. Haruka opened her eyes, blinked and tried to figure out whether she was dead or still alive.

"Everything okay?" Michiru asked. Now Haruka noticed that she was lying on the floor as her friend was crouching next to her. The girl blinked again and tried to get up. She succeeded in a few moments.

"Ouch. Yeah, I'm okay." She grinned a bit sheepishly. "What happened?"

"Your butt started glowing," Goten remarked.

Haruka looked over her shoulder to look at the flower bouquet that had spent the last couple of days in her back pocket. The flowers were glowing brightly.

"Far more valuable than you think…" she reminded Pegasus's words. "Darnit, if he wouldn't speak like a puzzle-maker all the time, I would've known to use it a long time ago."

"Naw, it would've been too easy, or what?" Gohan said with a frown. They all turned around to see what had happened to the demon.

It wasn't in a good shape. The flowers had obviously scared it to death; it was huddling in a corner, staring blankly at Haruka and whining quietly. It had changed its shape a little; it had no horns, wings or claws and it tried to be as small as it gets.

"If Pegasus knew that the flowers would have such an effect on it, why did he even bother having so much trouble with us?" Goku suddenly asked.

The white winged unicorn appeared in the middle of the room, spread his wings and then folded them together again.

"Because I didn't know that the flowers would have such an effect," he said. "I just thought that they might help you a little. After all, this creature is from the darkness and those flowers," he pointed at the glowing bouquet, "represent light. Because they're from the Heaven."

Vegeta shook his head with a grim frown. "Stereotypical. So, it looks like a few little flowers just saved the Universe. How do we get rid of that thing in the corner?" He gestured at the huddling little demon. "In case it isn't some sort of a new Feng Shui style, I doubt it'll ever look good next to that flower pot."

Pegasus snorted. "The flowers didn't destroy it. That demon's simply afraid of them, just like vampires are afraid of garlic."

"And I've never understood why vampires are afraid of garlic," Trunks interjected. "Can you tell me that?"

Pegasus's ear twitched. "That's not too hard to guess… would **you** like it if you were trying to bite someone's neck and that someone would smell of garlic?"

Trunks blinked. "No…"

"Neither do they," the unicorn grinned. "Well, it looks like the tables have turned," he said to the demon. "You played with our worlds, our dreams, you wanted to destroy us but now I'll send you back where you belong, once and for all."

"Where have I heard such a lecture before?" Goten whispered to Trunks.

"Pick a random sci-fi movie," Trunks whispered back.

Goten snorted with laughter. "Now he's most likely gonna say that he is that demon's father."

Pegasus looked back over his shoulder (and the huge wing). "In some way I am… after all, that thing is nothing but a nightmare and I am responsible for all dreams, including nightmares, in your world. And that nightmare will end here and now!"

"A cape and some heroic music, if you please…" Trunks whispered to Goten who grinned widely.

Pegasus didn't mind them even though he had most likely overheard that. He raised his head as his golden horn started to glow.

"Uranus, I owe you one," he said. "Without these flowers, things would've gotten a lot harder around here. Now that it's weakened, it shouldn't be a problem to get rid of it in…" The golden horn flashed, a bright ray of light dashed out of it and attacked the demon.

One single flash and it was gone.

"…about three seconds when including the power-up," Goku finished the sentence. Pegasus grinned.

"Glad I could help. It would've been that easy from the start if it wouldn't have had Hotaru's dream energy in it. That girl's energy, the one the demon got when coming through her mind, is simply tremendous. It lost that energy when it attacked those heavenly flowers though and then it became weak enough. It returned to under my control and now it's gone for good, back in the nightmares."

"It will return eventually when we all think that everything's back to normal once and for all," Trunks quietly remarked to Goten who nodded.

Haruka frowned. "So in a way I saved the Universe. Yay. Now, if that's not too much for you for one day, what can we do about Hotaru?"

"Yeah, that would most likely be our biggest problem at the moment," Goku added, "because all the creatures of the Dead Zone have been in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber for quite a while now and the place isn't exactly the safest."

Pegasus's face turned as serious as it could get – for most of the time it showed no expressions at all. "I can't go checking on her because those demons are far beyond my powers and would kill me as soon as I showed up. But… do you think you'd be able to summon the Dragonballs before they break loose?"

The Saiyan shrugged. "Who knows? A day out here is a year in there. By the time a week passes, seven years have gone in the Time Chamber and by then those things in there have had enough time to think of a million escaping plans. And if even one of them is good enough, we have a problem a LOT bigger than the one we've dealt with so far. Not to mention the fact that Hotaru's mind can be severely damaged in seven years in there."

Pegasus nodded. "Unfortunately you're right. We're short on time as our enemies have even too much of it. I can't help you with anything any more. You're on your own and I really suggest you to hurry. I have to leave now… good luck." He spread out his wings and disappeared as usually.

The room wasn't dark and cold any more; the moon eclipse was over and the demon was gone. But everyone in the room felt like the place had turned even darker, colder and more ominous than ever before.

"So… now what do we do?" Gohan asked.

_Author's Note: What, you think it was too easy? A demon of darkness should be a LOT harder to beat? Well, guess what? You're right. But I'm not gonna tell you more... not yet..._


	12. Porunga to the rescue

**Chapter 12 – Porunga to the rescue**

The sun was rising and one of the creepiest nights in the Saiyans' lives was now over. They were all sitting around the breakfast table, quietly and each thinking their own thoughts.

"It was so _easy_," Goku suddenly snorted. "Too easy."

"You think it's coming back?" Michiru asked him. The Saiyan shrugged.

"Who can tell? Maybe. Now we know that its powers came from Hotaru and since it doesn't have her powers any more, we don't have to worry about it." He clenched his fists. "And we wasted so much time on something so unimportant when we actually have a problem that is a LOT bigger!"

"And growing with every minute we sit here," Haruka added with a frown. "Have you guys ever met anyone from that Dead Zone?"

Goku and Gohan nodded. "Garlic Junior," Goku said. "A long time ago. He's immortal so the only way to defeat him was to send it in the Dead Zone. Most of that place's inhabitants are either immortal or just undefeatable. Dead Zone is practically the only safe place for creatures like that."

"Well, we have to get Hotaru out of the Hyperbolic Time Chamber and the demons back in the Dead Zone," Vegeta summed the topic up. "The worst part is that it wouldn't be a big problem at all if those Dragonballs wouldn't be powerless at the moment."

"Duh," Trunks commented, "that's why it turned into a problem in the first place. Shouldn't we still try contacting Namek?"

"King Kai won't help us thanks to that Afterworld law and my translocation… wait a minute, we still don't know what's causing its breakdowns!" Goku said in surprise.

Bulma blinked. "Whoops. Thanks to all that ruckus about your demon, I completely forgot about the research. But actually I think I wouldn't be able to explain it anyway. Those fighting techniques are too far away from my skills. You need to ask someone that knows the instant translocation technique well enough."

The kitchen was quiet for a while.

"King Kai," Goku suddenly announced. "He knows that technique."

"And how are you planning to contact him?" Vegeta asked. Goku grinned widely.

"Simple. Hey you two," he turned to look at Haruka and Michiru, "could you call that winged horse again?"

The two girls glanced at each other, then they sighed. "Fine. Just make sure you know what exactly you want to ask him, he's terribly busy at the moment." They both took their talismans out and after a few moments Pegasus appeared.

"I should block all your ways of contacting me again," he said with a frown. "I know it's a special occasion but honestly, I still am the master of all dreams and it's a full-time job."

"I'll make it fast," Goku said and the unicorn turned his head to look at him. "Could you take me to King Kai?"

"What for?" Pegasus asked back. "I prefer to stay away from the Afterworld at the moment."

"I need to ask him a few questions about the instant translocation technique," the Saiyan replied.

"Ask me," the unicorn suggested. "I know the technique well."

Goku blinked. "You do? Wow... Okay then... have you any idea why my translocation keeps going off the target?"

Pegasus looked at him and then raised his brow. "The technique is rather foolproof. The only possible reasons for its failing may be dimensional changes in the Space and Time or perhaps some radical changes in your personal aura."

"Can't say my aura has changed lately..." Goku said in surprise. "Has something really happened to Space and Time?" he turned to Haruka and Michiru. "You should know."

The two girls confidently shook their heads. "Setsuna is in charge of the Space and Time and if even a tiny little thing goes wrong, she uses her Garnet Orb to fix those things. Our talismans would've reacted to the Garnet Orb if it would've been used lately. Besides, the Space-Time continuum is easy for her to fix."

Goku scratched his head. "Then I have no idea."

"Wait..." Pegasus thought for a second. "Wasn't there a magnetic storm when you and Vegeta went to the other Earth?"

"Not exactly, but it came right after we had gone there," Vegeta remarked.

"Then it could've very well damaged your aura without you even noticing it," Pegasus announced. "After all, even humans don't feel well when a magnetic storm comes and they hardly know a thing about their auras. You are a Saiyan, any magnetic trouble affects you a lot more than some weak human."

"Now I get it..." the Saiyan said. "But the storm is long over, why is it still failing?"

"Auras don't heal fast," the unicorn answered. "And hasn't it gone better one bit?"

"When we first returned, we landed on a plain far away from the CC;" Haruka suddenly said. "And when we returned from the Afterworld to Dende's palace, you almost got there; only a little bit lower but next to the tower. I think that in a few more days it'll be completely back to normal." She frowned. "We may not have a few more days though."

"I think it's worth a try," Goku said. "I'll go to Namek and summon their Dragonballs. It'll give me three wishes, with those I get Hotaru out and send the demons back to the Dead Zone."

"Good luck, Dad," Gohan said. "But do you think Porunga is stronger than the whole Dead Zone?"

"He has to be," Goku replied with a grim frown. "He has to." He concentrated and tried to find Namek. Then he nodded and prepared for the translocation.

"Goku, would you please...!" Vegeta and Haruka shouted at the same time.

Goku flashed and disappeared. A few moments later he opened his eyes to see Namek's blue trees and green sky.

And the breakfast table.

"Seriously, _some_ people need to learn how to keep their elbows off the table," Haruka snarled. She had just been taking her coffee cup from the table when the teleporting took place. Everyone else had been eating at the moment as well.

"That table has really seen everything," Vegeta remarked. "Okay. We're on Namek now. Could we please deal with the Dragonballs and get back home before Bulma gets the omelet done and eats it all up?"

This time Michiru had come too. She stood up and looked around. "Nice place... where are all the people?"

"They live in villages all over the planet. We need to find the one where the elder of the Namekians lives. You two girls should probably sit on the table again," Goku said, lifting the table up in the air.

"You'll get used to it soon enough," Haruka muttered to Michiru as the table flew towards the distance next to the five Saiyans.

The village wasn't far away; obviously Goku's skills were really coming back. As they landed in front of the village with the table, all Namekians came out from their little houses to see them.

"Whoa, lotsa Piccolos…" Haruka remarked.

Goku waved at the inhabitants. "Heya all! Where's the elder?"

"And he skipped the "we come in peace" part," Goten said to the others with a grin.

"Do we?" Vegeta asked back. The elder came out of his little hut and smiled as he recognized the Saiyans.

"It's been a while since you last came here," he said.

"And this time we can't stay for long," Goku replied. "We need the Dragonballs."

The elder nodded. "Not a problem." He ordered two Namekians to bring the crystal balls out. As they were placed on the ground, they instantly started glowing and gave a quiet humming sound.

"Wow… aren't these big," Michiru admired.

"These are the original Dragonballs, they're supposed to be like that," Trunks explained quietly. "The ones on our Earth are a lot smaller. Shh… they're calling the dragon now!" The elder had raised his hands and now spoke a weird-sounding phrase. The crystal balls started glowing again, then they turned white. The sky turned dark, a couple of lightning rods flashed and the Eternal Dragon Porunga flew out of the crystal balls.

"He's a lot bigger than Shenlong," Trunks quietly explained to the two Sailor Soldiers, "and a lot more powerful too."

In the meantime the elder of Namek listened to what Goku had to say, frowned and nodded. "I'm not sure if he can do anything about it," he said, "but it's definitely worth a try." He looked at the dragon and translated the wish. Porunga seemed thoughtful. The Saiyans seemed nervous. Haruka crossed her arms with a frown, looking up to the dragon.

"This better help," she said.

Porunga's eyes suddenly glowed red. "Your wish will be fulfilled," he said with a deep, dark voice. "But it will take all of my power. You are asking me to move dimensions and therefore you will not have the other two wishes."

"If he can speak in our language, how come they had to translate the wish into Namekian?" Michiru whispered to Trunks who shrugged.

"Go figure. At least we got the wish. The demons are now back in the Dead Zone and the Universe is saved... right?"

Vegeta, who had overheard that, shook his head with a grim frown. "Not necessarily. Kakarot asked the dragon to move the demons but Hotaru's still in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, her mind is most likely still severely harmed and the demons may still have the way out. We need to get back to Earth - fast." The Dragon disappeared again and the sky turned back to green. "I do hope that she has learned to protect her mind in the meantime."

"She had almost two years in there. Let's hope the best. Can we go home now?" Gohan said.

"We need to go to Dende's first; to get Hotaru," Goku replied. "I hope it won't go too wrong this time. Girls, ready?" Haruka and Michiru nodded. "Let's go then."

This time they almost reached the palace. As the breakfast table whizzed through the cold air, Michiru muttered something about the extremely safe life of being a Sailor Soldier.

Dende greeted them and announced that the demons had almost broken out for a couple of times but _something_ had managed to hold them back. From the inside.

"Hotaru?" Michiru quietly asked her friend. Haruka shrugged. They all went to the chamber door. Dende hesitated a little before pulling the door open. A bright light shone into their faces, blinding them for a couple of seconds. Then the light faded away and Sailor Saturn appeared on the door.

She didn't seem older. As a matter of fact, she looked like as she had really entered the room only two days ago. Her eyes were determined and even though they were still a bit empty, she had obviously become stronger.

"It's about time," she said.

"How have you been?" Haruka asked as the girl came out of the chamber and stretched her back, breathing the fresh air. Dende entered the room examining it and his eyes turned big.

"No reason to complain," Saturn replied. "Considering the fact that I had to sit in here for two days with about twenty thousand immortal demons."

"Two days? But… you were supposed to spend two years in here," Goku said, raising his brows. The girl smiled and shook her head.

"Simply a dimensional glitch. It's easy to change it when you know the trick."

Dende came back to them. "No… no it's not! The Hyperbolic Time Chamber is supposed to change the time for anyone in here – permanently! It's not possible that you only spent two days in here, just like outside." He scratched his head. "Even though she's right and the time chamber really passed only two days. But how did you do that?"

Saturn looked at her Silence Glaive. "Using this little thing here. It equalized the time inside there with the time out here. I didn't want to sit in there for two years. Anyway…" She looked at Haruka. "Is the Universe safe now?"

"Is your mind safely locked now?" Haruka asked back. The girl nodded.

"That nightmare demon managed to harm it but those other demons weren't able to do a thing to it. I had enough time to heal in here, using the Glaive to keep the creatures away and hoping that it wouldn't take you too long to fix the things. So, what have I missed?" She turned back to Hotaru.


	13. The newcomer

**Chapter 13 – The newcomer**

"So, is this story finally over? That misty demon thing is not coming back? The Dead Zone is safe? No unpleasant surprises ringing the doorbell and NOT planning to run away?" Haruka asked.

They were all sitting in the Capsule Corporation's main building's living room, drinking tea and watching TV. It was almost noon, the sun was shining, the birds were singing and the sky was as blue as Bulma's eyes. It was hard to believe that only a couple of days ago that world had been in extreme danger.

"Never say never; but I believe that this story is really over now," Goku replied. "After all, Pegasus sent the demon back to where it belongs and the Dead Zone got fixed." He looked at Hotaru. "Any visions lately?"

"No. My mind got a lot stronger through that experience. It wouldn't be easy for it to try something like that the next time. Even if it was alive," Hotaru replied with a smile. She was that calm, pale, quiet girl again. Haruka and Michiru had really been happy when they noticed that. The petrified, unsure Hotaru had scared them, and the determined, cold-eyed Hotaru wasn't a lot better.

"Now there's only one little problem left," Michiru remarked. "We need to get back home."

"The Namekian Dragonballs are out of the question and ours still need about a week to regain their powers," Vegeta replied. "Unless you want to call that green-haired lady to get you home, you'll just have to wait here until then."

Haruka slowly shook her head. "Setsuna won't help us. She's broken enough rules for this century and when there's another way for us to go home, she won't bother risking her head and job like that."

Michiru snorted with laughter. "Actually she wouldn't risk with anything as there simply isn't anyone to fire her. It's a good thing that she takes her job so seriously but honestly – she stands above everything and everyone else."

"Not directly," Haruka corrected her. "She stands **next** to everything else."

"Can't this Pegasus take you home?" Trunks asked. The girls pondered that for a minute.

"I wouldn't risk with that. After all, he comes from the world of dreams. Who knows what might happen and where we might end up if something would happen to go wrong. Dreams are so unstable," Haruka said. Michiru smiled at her.

"Always with the realistic point of view, or what?"

"Hey, I think it's fully enough when **one** of us is an airhead," Haruka teased her.

Michiru grinned, put her empty tea cup on the table and stretched her arms. "Whoa, but it feels so great just having some time off! No demons, no nightmares, no pointless visions, no getting up early in the morning to go to work when it's raining cats and dogs outside. Just some good old RR."

"It's been a while since you last took some time off," Haruka nodded. "You're always pushing yourself too hard. Life is for enjoying, not for struggling through."

"It sure is your way of life, I'm not even gonna argue about that," the girl smiled. "But unlike you I have a few responsibilities. The bills for example."

Haruka frowned. "I always pay the bills, thank you!"

"And I always remind you," the other girl smirked.

Haruka suddenly hit her forehead. "Darnit, the bills must be piling up! We never meant to leave the house for such a long time. So the lights are probably on in most rooms, the TV is on, the front door was unlocked too…"

"Don't worry, I asked Setsuna to take care of that when I asked her for help the first time," Michiru smiled. Haruka grinned widely, leaned over and hugged her.

"What would I do without you?"

"Most likely everything you're doing now," Michiru replied with a frown but she couldn't help smiling with joy. Trunks scratched his head.

"But what if someone broke in before Setsuna got there?"

"I'd love to see someone trying that," Haruka replied with a grin. "We have a retired _yakuza_ godfather right next door. And I get along with him quite fine."

"The bills must still have flooded the mailbox," Michiru frowned. "The last person I wanna see on a sunny Sunday morning is the policeman that came to kindly ask us to move out."

"First we need to get back home, then you can start worrying about the policemen," Hotaru reminded her. Haruka sighed, nodded and frowned.

"The Dragonballs still need a week so take your time," Bulma said with a smile. "We don't mind having you around, really."

Michiru nodded. "That's really nice of you but we still don't know what has happened while we were gone and well, you'll never know when some alien scum decides to arrive and take over the Earth."

"Amen to that," Goku nodded.

"Setsuna will surely come to warn us when something would happen out there," Haruka comforted her. "Right now, well, would someone pass the popcorn?"

"Say guys, where are the Dragonballs right now anyway?" Gohan suddenly asked.

"All… over the world, I'd say," Bulma slowly replied. "Drat, it looks like we're gonna have to go treasure hunting before we can send our new friends here back home."

"But can't we go now?" Michiru quickly asked. Bulma shook her head.

"The Dragon Radar doesn't work when the Dragonballs have no power. We must go in a week. It won't take a long time though, as this guy here," she nodded at her husband, "can circle the globe within minutes. Collecting the Dragonballs is a small problem."

"Fine then. A whole week without fighting demons." Haruka laughed and curled up on the sofa. "My guardian angel must be back in business."

"I wouldn't wanna be your guardian angel even if you paid me a million bucks," Trunks announced. "I saw you racing back when we were still on your planet. Sheesh, and I thought Dad was careless…!"

"Your dad would be just fine even if he'd happen to fall off a bike and hit his head against a tree when going 150 miles per hour," Michiru said with a frown. "Miss I'm-a-cool-rider here has just been extremely lucky."

"I missed the race last Saturday," Haruka said thoughtfully, "and it's a shame. There were a few newcomers. Now I don't know what happened to them."

"Are you really afraid that someone will take your number one position while you're gone for a couple of weeks?" Hotaru asked with a smile. Haruka shrugged.

"There's always a possibility. Besides, I like racing with newcomers. They're a challenge, they always give everything they got and they're all convinced that they will beat me. That way they ride better than the old doers who have already given up and struggle for the second position."

"It sounds like you're a really, really good bike rider," Bulma remarked.

"She is," Goku, Vegeta, Trunks and Goten replied at the same time. Bulma grinned.

"I'd love to see you in action, you know," she told Haruka, "and I bet you'd love to race with completely new challengers in a completely new environment where _you_ would be a newcomer."

The girl's eyes narrowed. "What's your point?"

"The Western Capital's Sports League holds bike races every Thursday on the suburban tracks," Bulma said. "They're not very safe but they always attract many people. The league gets thousands of dollars only from betting and the prizes are, well, enormous. I have an old bike in the garage. Interested?"

A wide smile appeared on Haruka's face. "I have to see the bike first," she announced and so they all went to the garage.

The bike was indeed old but in a very good condition. Haruka spent most of the afternoon checking it and when she finished, she took it out for a little ride.

"I need to see the track before I go racing on it," she told Bulma. "Where's it located?"

The woman shook her head. "It's a private track. Nobody's allowed there except for the racers. But if you only want to check the bike then there are plenty of public tracks in the city."

Haruka nodded with a frown. "Let's go to the nearest."

* * *

"The Western Track, one of the most famous tracks in the city," Bulma introduced. "Before the League built that new track, this was the main racing road for bikes, cars, even horses once in a while. It's considered a killer, only the new track is said to be harder so if you can make it here, your chances of making it in the big race are HUGE."

"Fine, fine." Haruka put her helmet on. "Just wait for me here. I'll ride the track through." She started the bike, let it roar for a couple of seconds to listen to the sound and then, obviously satisfied with what she had heard, took off.

"And they're off! The race is in progress and bike number 54 is leading!" Trunks yelled.

"It will take her a little while before she gets here," Bulma said. "If I remember correctly then the track record is somewhere around 25 minutes. If she'll take less time then I'm really amazed. If it takes her longer then she may still win the race."

"All the track records in Tokyo are hers," Michiru said. "If she'll really take more than 25 minutes then she's probably gotten into an accident."

"You really believe in her, don't you?" Vegeta asked her. The girl nodded with a smile.

"I have good reasons to believe in her. At least when it comes to racing. You'll see what I mean soon enough."

They waited, keeping an eye on the watch. Eventually they heard the bike roar from the forest and Haruka stopped in front of them.

"I've seen worse tracks," she said, taking the dusty helmet off. "I do hope that this race track on Thursday is more challenging. But the bike is really good," she added with a smile. "Reminds me of my old Kawasaki."

Trunks and Goten had been staring at the watch the whole time. Now they looked up.

"18 minutes and seven seconds," Goten said slowly.

* * *

"_Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the 97th official Western Capital Sports League's Bike Race! The betting will be closed in fifteen minutes. The profits of today's race go to the League's newest project, the building of Western Capital's new baseball field. Please note that walking on the track before, during and after the race is strictly forbidden…_" The loudspeaker went on and on as the inhabitants of Western Capital arrived on the huge field next to the track. The weather was good and even though there had been a slight shower on the previous day, Haruka had said that it wouldn't affect anything.

"Would you look at that, we seem to have gotten the best seats," Bulma said with a grin. "Those people in the ticket office were so nice."

"Yeah, and the fact that you're the owner of the planet's biggest industrial corporation had nothing to do with it," Trunks grinned.

"So far my dad's still the owner," Bulma corrected, "but yeah, as long as my parents are on the Papaya Islands on holiday, I'm responsible for the business. I'm gonna go betting."

"The favorites of the race?" The young man in the betting booth looked at some papers. "Racers number 14, 25 and 11 have the best results in previous races. Today is actually the first time they all race at the same time in one race. This will be very interesting."

Bulma smiled slightly. "What about black horses?"

More paper checking. "Today only racer number 7. Some girl from out of town. Nobody knows where she came from and if she has ever even raced before. Yeah, some people have placed a small bet on her, just out of curiosity. But against the best racers of the city... she simply doesn't stand a chance, whoever she may be."

"Well, I feel like spending some money today," Bulma replied with a smile. Haruka had the number 7. "Let's give the girl a chance, shall we? 200 dollars on racer number 7."

The young man blinked. "Uhm... sure thing, Madam."

Michiru laughed as she heard what the man had said. "It was years ago when Haruka was a black horse. In Japan she's the most famous motocross racer. She's considered undefeatable. Racing used to be a good challenge for her, but not any more. It's a good thing that she's a girl… that way there'll at least always be annoyed men that are sure they'll beat her."

"Today she'll get many new enemies," Goten grinned. He and Goku had come to see the race too as they both claimed that they wouldn't miss it for the world (and who cares about school or training anyway?). "How much do you win when she wins the race?"

Bulma shrugged. "I'm not sure but since three of the best racers of the city are here, there are more betters than ever. If Haruka really wins the race…"

"She will," Trunks claimed. "I've seen her race."

Bulma looked at her husband. "You know, Vegeta, you could make a nice living with racing. You could simply hold the bike and fly in front of everyone else and there'd be nobody to defeat you."

"I'm a fighter, not a racer," the prince of the Saiyans snorted. "And besides, it's mainly the control and not the speed that matters. Any idiot can buy a fancy bike and look good in the saddle but…"

"The bike doesn't ride without a rider," Goku said. "Her words."

Bulma nodded. The race was about to start so they all focused on the bikes. There were many. Almost thirty bikes, standing tightly next to each other, ready to start. The crowd calmed down and they could hear the birds singing in the forest nearby as they waited for the gunshot.

And the race started. Three bikes instantly took the leading positions as the rest stayed right behind them. The Saiyans looked at one of the bikes in front of the big bunch. Bike number seven.

"Seven's her lucky number," Hotaru said as the crowd started yelling and cheering. "In our solar system, Uranus is the seventh planet. Her planet. She will win the race."

"And this time she will really enjoy it," Goku added.


	14. Haruka on the track

**Chapter 14 - Haruka on the track**

"Who is this girl?" Haruka had heard many racers whisper that to each other before the race started. Some men came to talk to her while she was giving the bike a final check. She had felt that the men weren't hostile. Curious, surprised, maybe a bit careful but they didn't mind having her in the race.

It had been years since other contestants had looked at her with compassion and curiosity. It was before she proved herself in the world she hadn't belonged to yet. Now she was on top of that world. And ready to conquer new ones.

"Hey, little lady. Where do you come from? You haven't raced here yet, have you?" one of the men had asked. Haruka quietly cursed the skin-tight racing suit that never hid anything. Being streamlined had its price. However, she even liked being herself in that world where she shouldn't have belonged to. Mainly because she had earned her spot in that world and was really proud of that.

"No… no I haven't," she had replied. "I'm today's black horse. And I'm not planning to be the very last one."

"Ever raced before?" another man had asked. They were really just curious. A girl or not, new racers were always something interesting. You'll never know how much they have in them.

"Several times," Haruka had nodded, tightening some bolts that seemed suspicious. The men that were all old racers noted the fact that she handled the bike like a professional. And Haruka knew that they had noted that.

"Well, it's always nice to see new faces," the first man had smiled. "Otherwise the races would be boring. Always the same winners and losers. Friends call me Jake." He had shaken Haruka's hand and so had the others. Haruka couldn't help smiling.

"Don't expect an easy race," she had warned the guys. "I like to give everything I've got when I'm on a new track."

And now she was on the track. Keeping the bike right behind the third favorite, staying in front of the rest, waiting for her turn. She could've taken the leading position in the start but that would've been too boring. These opponents came to fight. Each and every one of them.

The bikes roared loudly. Everyone but Haruka tried to give their best. The bumpy track didn't make it easy. Haruka noted that there were dozens of cameras attached to every possible pole and tree by the track. It was easy for the audience to watch the race from different angles, just like watching a TV.

The wind whizzed against her body. The bike purred like a tiger. Even though it wasn't hers, it wasn't planning to fail on her. Haruka considered herself a good racer when taking it very humbly but a good bike was still essential.

"Check it out, the new girl isn't bad at all!" one of the men yelled at the racer next to him.

"I'm not planning to get beaten by a girl," the other man hissed back and speeded up.

Haruka was completely in her element. Sure, there were more racers around her than she was used to but being an unknown racer gave her an advantage. Nobody paid attention to her. She wasn't considered a threat. Not yet. She put the bike on a little test, choosing a small lump on the road. The bike boosted in the air, gaining several feet with the leap and landed practically next to the third favorite. Haruka could see the man's surprised eyes behind the visor. Then she slowed down just a bit to take the fourth position again.

The bike was perfect. The racers were stunned. The newcomer seemed to be quite a bit more than they had expected. True, Haruka was a bit concerned about the fact that it was her very first time on that track but she hoped that there weren't any death traps ahead. She withdrew from the others for a bit to turn her communicator on and ask Michiru about it.

"Bulma says that there have never been any mysterious accidents on that track," her friend calmed her down in a moment. "There are plenty of new racers every Thursday and nobody has died yet. Just don't make any stupid mistakes, okay?"

Some youngster on a black dirt bike with flames painted on it had taken Haruka's fourth position as she ended the conversation and focused on the race again. The girl frowned but then she grinned. No more fourth position? Fine, then I'll take the third one.

The third favorite who had been trying hard the whole race to keep up with his two main rivals blinked and gasped as the slim girl on an old bike suddenly appeared right next to him, stayed there for a moment and then easily passed him.

"She's the third one! She's the third one!" Trunks and Goten both yelled as the screens showed what had happened.

"Only because she wants to," Vegeta remarked.

"There's a lot more to come," Michiru agreed. "This time the race is even interesting… because Haruka finds it interesting."

Haruka could hear the third favorite's bike right behind her as the man tried hard to win his position back. But the girl wasn't planning to let that happen. She was now the third. She looked aside for a second, trying to find a checkpoint. There it was, a sign with "5 MILES" written on it. That meant that there were 25 more miles to go. Haruka decided that there was plenty of time left and… slowed down a bit, letting the man behind her pass her again. As the bike slid by, Haruka saw the man's stunned eyes once more. He had understood that the girl had let him pass. Haruka grinned contentedly and even let the black dirt bike pass her, taking the fifth position.

The crowd was going wild. They had seen what the new racer had done and were now utterly excited. What else is gonna happen today? The commentator was about to lose his voice:

"_Laaadies and gentlemen, today's newcomer just lost her third position, she's now the fifth… bike number 11 is leading, then there's bike number 25…_"

Haruka didn't hear it and she didn't care either. She wanted to get out of the forest and make it to open fields again, just in case. Risking was nice but not when she actually took the race seriously. Her opponents weren't those hopeless men back in Japan who weren't fighting to win any more and practically let her win. This time it was a challenge and Michiru had been right, stupid mistakes were out of the question.

Luckily there wasn't much forest on the track. When half of the race was over, the bikes dashed out of the forest and raced over a huge field. That's where the same man that had promised not to let a girl beat him in the beginning of the race decided to act. He suddenly took up with Haruka and stayed there until the next bend. Just when Haruka was about to take the curve the other bike rammed hers, unexpectedly enough. The girl felt that she was flying through the air and on the next moment she hit the ground. The bike landed next to her, still purring and scraping the grass with its wheels.

"He did that on PURPOSE!" Goten was about to go mad. Trunks's eyes were gleaming with rage as well. The crowd was chattering excitedly, trying to figure out what exactly had happened. Michiru seemed a bit concerned as she clenched her fists and looked at the screen which now focused on Haruka. But then she smiled.

"She's fine; and not out of the question yet. Look." Haruka got up, lifted the bike up too and immediately followed the others that were already a mile away. The screen was now empty but the crowd's chattering got louder. There was a clear blood stain on the grass.

The girl was really fine, even though her arm was bleeding. But now she was angry. She wasn't going to let some fool get away with what had just happened. The bike neared the others so quickly that the crowd's chattering turned into cheering. Before the racers could understand anything, the bike whizzed past them. Past the black dirt bike. Past the third favorite… the second favorite! Haruka was now the runner-up.

The audience was excited. Everyone could see that the girl was a lot faster than the rest of the group and now that she was the second, everyone realized that she had simply been holding herself back and was doing that at the moment as well.

The wind whizzed against Haruka's body again. It hurt her arm but she didn't care. Her eyes registered the "20 MILES" sign and she dashed into the final round, taking her bike right next to the very first contestant.

The man who had been leading the race for the whole time and hadn't really cared about what was going on behind him almost fell off his bike in surprise when the girl on an old bike appeared by his side. Unlike Haruka, he had been racing with everything he got. Now he started feeling like it wasn't enough and he didn't like the feeling.

For a few miles they were racing side by side. The man got nervous. He tried to push Haruka off the road but the girl had experienced that often enough to avoid it easily. Haruka's eyes were calm and undisturbed as she pushed the bike only a little bit, just enough to bring half of her bike past the leader. She was now the first one. Once again.

The man hadn't given up yet. He had seen what Haruka had done in the beginning of the race and now tried the same. He chose a bump on the road and rode over it. The bike leaped in the air.

But it didn't win any distance. On the contrary, the man could barely keep the bike up as it landed and the second favorite almost passed him before he could gain complete control again. He struggled into the runner-up position and snorted with fury. Deep down inside him he knew that he was going to lose.

Haruka slowed her bike down a bit to stay next to the man.

"Not every bump is good for winning distance, you know!" she yelled to him over the loud roaring of thirty bikes. "The angle has to be perfect!"

The man snarled and squeezed the handlebar. "Get off my face, you… bitch!"

Haruka raised her brows. "Yeah? Okay, fine with me." The finish line was looming in the distance. The road wasn't that bumpy any more. Her eyes narrowed a bit and she gave the bike the very final command. And the bike didn't fail on her. It purred loudly, dashed forward, increased the distance between it and the racers and stayed in front of the group about fifty feet away. Just for teasing. Then Haruka decided that it was time to end this once and for all and speeded over the finish line.

The crowd went crazy. The commentator's voice was hard to hear even though he yelled right into the microphone: "_We haaave the winner, ladies and gentlemen! Racer number 7, today's black horse, Haruka Tenou!_"

By the time other contestants finished the race, Haruka was already surrounded by journalists, random excited people and medics that were checking her arm. The girl didn't answer to any of the journalists' questions. She was only talking to the medic that was dressing her wound.

"Merely a scratch, it will heal in a little while," the medic said. "How do you feel?"

"Just fine, now that you took care of it," Haruka smiled at her. The medic blushed a little and on that same second Michiru appeared next to her.

"That was once heck of a race, Haruka, and would you _please_ leave that girl alone?" she snapped. The medic disappeared as quickly as she could. "Sheesh, by all means… how's that arm doing?"

"Nothing would've happened to it if the speed would've been smaller," Haruka replied. "Things like that just come about in a race. I guess I'm gonna have to deal with the journalists now, or what?"

"Just keep your eye on your big mouth, huh?" Michiru suggested. Haruka laughed and turned to the first interviewer. "Yeah?"

"How do you feel after winning such an important race?" the woman asked, feeling a bit upset since she had been trying to ask that for five minutes.

"As usually," Haruka replied rather laconically. Fame was something that just came along with her racing skills. She preferred to keep a low profile and never gave interviews. All those little questions after the race were fine but that was it. She never shared facts about her personal life. There were many things people didn't need to know about her.

"Have you won any races before?" another journalist quickly asked.

"Well…" Haruka didn't get that question often. "Yes, several. I have to get going now." Two or three questions were always the maximum any journalist would get to ask her after any race. The girl turned around, completely ignoring the rain of questions. She started the bike again, sighed slightly and turned around to get her prize.

"Hey, you, little lady!" a familiar voice called her. Haruka turned around to see the same men that had talked to her before the race. She smiled. Friendly faces were a rarity after winning a race.

"You're quite a lot more than we had expected!" one of the men announced, walking up to her and shaking her hand. "Congratulations."

"I don't hear the word often," the girl remarked. "It's nice to see someone that isn't jealous after losing to a girl."

"Winning, losing, who cares," another man said. "Everything may happen on a track. What that dude did to your arm was an ugly trick though." He glared at the racer that had rammed Haruka on the track. "He does that often, y'know, and usually gets away clean. He's good at such tricks. But this time he won't get away with it."

"Is lynch law common around here?" Michiru had shown up again. The men seemed a bit sheepish.

"As common as dirty tricks," one of the men replied. "Listen lady, you gotta go get your prize now. We'll take care of that dude, dontcha worry about it."

Haruka nodded. "Thanks. And… you guys raced pretty well yourselves."

The men grinned widely. "We're all newbies to the event so thanks. Go get your prize now… go on, people are getting impatient there!"

By the time they all left the track, Haruka was practically a local hero. Bulma was in an excellent mood. Her 200 dollars were fully paid.

"Your chances of winning were 50:1 and you won, Haruka, have you any idea how much **I** won with that?"

"About one tenth of the daily profit of your company?" Vegeta asked.

Bulma nodded frantically. "Almost, and that's a LOT of money! Tell me, Haruka, how come you're that good?"

The girl shrugged. "It's just the practice. Motocross is my hobby and people are always good at anything they like doing. Besides, today I was a black horse. They underestimated me and that's…"

"A terrible mistake," Michiru remarked. Haruka laughed.

"If you want to put it that way. Bulma, you can have your bike back now. It's a good one, I admit that but I still prefer my old Kawasaki."


	15. A living nightmare

**Chapter 15 – A living nightmare**

"After all that excitement yesterday it seems that today is the most boring day of the year," Trunks complained. It was Friday morning and they had all once again gathered around the breakfast table that had been through so many adventures during the past couple of weeks.

"Nothing to worry about; I'm sure that as soon as we'll all start feeling nice and safe again, some alien scum or darkness demon will show up," Vegeta grunted.

"They better would, Goku isn't here any more to take us travelling with the table again!" Trunks announced.

"I think this table has seen enough for one lifetime," Bulma said, putting a huge bowl of rice on the table. "It took me two hours to get all that Namekian dirt off its legs. No, I think the rest of the days these three girls are staying here will be nice and quiet, or what?"

"That would be boring, now wouldn't it?" Hotaru had appeared on the kitchen's doorway. She seemed a bit… worried. Haruka's and Michiru's eyes narrowed instantly.

"If you had another vision last night then spit it out now because I don't wanna hear anything about any demon for at least two months!" Haruka announced.

Hotaru shook her head. "No vision. Just a nightmare. But I felt the presence of that same demon in that nightmare."

The others were quiet for a while.

"Should we worry about it?" Bulma asked.

"Well, it **was** a nightmare in the first place," Haruka slowly said, "I guess it's now back where it belongs. Did the nightmare include any "I'll be back" messages?"

"No, it just seemed… vengeful," the girl replied and sat down behind the table.

"Most defeated enemies are vengeful," Vegeta remarked. "Didn't you say that your mind was now strong enough to withstand the demon?"

Hotaru nodded. "True, and that's why you don't have to worry. I think it will haunt me every time it can because that's everything it can do at the moment. I just hope that it won't be able to do something more…"

"Have some coffee and don't worry about it any more," Bulma suggested. "You will leave this planet in a few days. Try and enjoy the last days here." Hotaru nodded, smiled and thanked her.

"So it sounds like out ambitious little demon's really gone for good," Trunks said with a grin.

"Ambitious little creatures can never be underestimated," Michiru warned him. "Take Haruka for example."

Haruka laughed. "So, if there are no big threats in sight then I guess we'll just sit back and watch TV for the next couple of days. Who has the remote?"

But things didn't work out that easily…

* * *

"What in the world?" Michiru sat up and blinked. She looked at the alarm clock. It was almost 4 AM. Something had woken her up.

The girl pondered that for a few moments and then realized that she had heard something. A sound… but what had it been? A moan? A cry?

Michiru got dressed – just in case, sneaked out of the room, looked around the hallway and her eyes narrowed. The Aqua Mirror appeared in her hand. It glowed slightly but didn't give any unusual reaction. She sniffed the air. Something was different… and familiar. Some slight scent in the air. She couldn't put her finger on it but she knew that she had smelled that before.

The girl went to the door of Haruka's room. Before she could knock, the door opened and her friend's navy blue eyes looked straight into hers.

"You heard that too…?" she asked. Michiru nodded.

"What was it? I'm not sure _what_ I heard."

"It sounded like a very, very distant scream. I sure hope it hasn't anything to do with Hotaru…" Haruka crossed the hallway and knocked on the door of Hotaru's room. It opened in a second. Hotaru's worried purple eyes met the eyes of the two.

"It wasn't you?" she asked. Both girls shook their heads.

"I wasn't having any nightmares if you're worried about that," Hotaru claimed. "Perhaps Bulma saw a spider or something?"

Michiru frowned. "Then why do I have such a funny feeling?" Haruka nodded in agreement.

"Okay…" Trunks had appeared in the hallway. "Please tell me that it was one of you who screamed." The three shook their heads.

"I was afraid of that…" the kid moaned. "The demon is back!"

Hotaru snorted. "Don't be stupid. I would've felt that if it was back. Someone probably left the TV on."

"They're off, all seven of them," Bulma's voice interjected. She and Vegeta were standing in the end of the hallway. "Even if it was just a random scream from the street… how come it woke us all up?"

Vegeta yawned quietly and frowned. "What's that smell? I know I've smelled that before…"

"I know, it seemed familiar to me too," Michiru agreed. "But I don't understand what it is."

Hotaru frowned. "Kinda smells like… mould."

The others stared at her and then at each other.

"That night… when the demon turned the house into a haunted mansion," Trunks said slowly, "it smelled just like that."

"But there is no… eeeeeeek!" Bulma had backed against the wall and now hopped forward, landing almost in Vegeta's arms. The prince muttered something about being a bit too tired for such things and looked at the wall. It was wet, dripping and the wallpaper was hanging down.

"Okay… I thought Pegasus got rid of that thing!" Michiru growled.

"I think he did, when Hotaru claims she didn't feel anything," Haruka replied. "But the scream we all heard and **that**," she pointed at the walls," must have a good reason. And I'm planning to find out what it is."

"Go get your heavenly flowers, we may need them," Michiru suggested. Haruka nodded, turned around and pushed the door. "_Funny… I don't remember closing the door…_" a thought rushed through her head. Then she pushed the door again. It wouldn't open.

"Let me." Vegeta slammed his muscular shoulder against the door. It bended a little, gave a loud screech that reminded more of a scream and broke open.

Everyone stared at the room. It was melting. The walls looked like a cream cake that was left in the sun for too long. The furniture had the same effect. Haruka carefully stepped in and hopped back. The floor was squishy and wet. The girl took a deep breath and looked into Vegeta's eyes.

"Fly me in there. Fast. This room will collapse soon."

"I bet the other rooms look just like Haruka's," Bulma guessed after the flowers were safely out of the room and in the back pocket of Haruka's old jeans. "Let's go see what's going on downstairs."

"I have a better idea… let's get out of the house," Trunks suggested. "We won't find anything in the house except for some moldy walls and possibly three-eyed rats again." The others agreed and so they headed for downstairs. The front door was, of course, closed. Vegeta slammed against it but it didn't work.

"Trunks… on three!" the prince hissed. They both concentrated and attacked the door with their energy blasts. It bended a little but didn't open.

"Won't your flowers help, Haruka?" Bulma asked the girl who shrugged, stepped forward and poked the keyhole with the flowers. No reaction.

"It just needs more power," Vegeta said. "You three girls, you were supposed to be superheroes on your planet, right?"

Three pairs of eyes glanced at him.

"Uranus Crystal Power…" "Neptune Crystal Power…" "Saturn Crystal Power…" "...**make up!**"

The energy waves lit the hallway for a few moments, then it was dark again but only until Uranus and Neptune pulled their talismans out. Saturn's Silence Glaive didn't glow but it gave a quiet, ominous whizzing sound as the girl pulled it through mould scented air.

"On three again?" Uranus asked. Vegeta nodded. Bulma stepped back.

Two energy waves rammed into the door. On the next second a bright blue, wavy and glittering energy stream from the Aqua Mirror joined them. The Space Sword shone like a red crescent as Uranus pushed it in the middle of the other energy waves. The Silence Glaive needed a bit more time to power up, as soon as dark electrical lines started running over its surface, Saturn stabbed the door with it. The door screamed like a human being, bending more and more.

"We need more power," Uranus gasped, barely holding her sword as her strength flooded out through it into the door.

"You got it," Vegeta growled, turning into a Super Saiyan. Trunks followed his lead. The whole hallway was now shining.

"We're fighting against a door," Michiru remarked sarcastically but her mirror was shaking in her hands.

"It's not… just a door," Trunks claimed. "Otherwise it would've broken long time ago. Take that, you rotten piece of wood!" He boosted forward, slamming his fist straight into the crossing point of the energy streams. The door cracked, screamed loudly and fell open. Or actually apart. Trunks was the first one to fall out on the lawn and the others rushed out too.

"Are you out of your mind?" Uranus asked, helping Trunks to get up. The kid's fist was terribly burnt. "You can't just touch the blade of the Space Sword and hope that you won't get a scratch. You're lucky that the Silence Glaive didn't hit you."

Trunks gasped, losing the Super Saiyan aura. "Well, I…opened the door, didn't I?"

"You did, but I'm not sure if it helped us much," Neptune said. "Look." Everyone looked around to see that the world around them had drastically changed.

The sky was dark green. All the buildings were black and didn't seem very solid. They were waggling and bending and their walls were melting just like Haruka's room. The moon was silvery and seemed bigger than it normally was.

"It's like a nightmare," Bulma whispered. Vegeta frowned and turned into a Super Saiyan again, just in case.

"Let's get out there and see if we can find something," Saturn suggested. They left the territory of the house and looked around. There were no cars in sight although normally the street was rather lively, even at night. But there were many people on the street, wandering around aimlessly. Vegeta went up to a man and asked him:

"Hey you, what's going on out here?"

The man stared at him blankly. "Dark… so dark… nothing but darkness… leave me alone!"

Trunks had stopped a lady and asked her what she knew about all that. The woman blinked and suddenly screamed:

"Spiders! Thousands of spiders… all over me… waaahhhh!" She ran away down the street, leaving the kid staring after her.

"I think I'm starting to get the point," Neptune said and turned to another woman near her. "Excuse me?"

The woman gasped. "Rats! Look at all the rats! They're gonna eat me alive! Help me!" She clasped Neptune's arm and stared at her with a terrified look in her eyes. Then she ran away too, screaming.

"We're in a living nightmare," Neptune said. "All those people are experiencing what they're afraid of most."

"And I bet I know who's behind all this," Vegeta murmured. "That winged pony isn't exactly reliable, you know."

"No, Pegasus sent it back to the dream world, that's one thing for sure." Uranus looked around. "This city has turned into a nightmare. That demon is attacking us on its home field."

"Then how come we're not surrounded by our greatest fears?" Bulma wondered. Uranus shrugged.

"We're awake. I suggest we'd go and try to find the demon. It's up to something nasty and I'd love to find out what it is."

"That makes two of us." Vegeta grinned. "Let's go." He started towards the city centre – or what used to be the city centre.

"Vegeta, wait!" Bulma hurried after him. "How do you know where to find it?"

"Let's just follow the screaming people," Saturn suggested, grabbed her Silence Glaive and went after Vegeta. Uranus and Neptune followed her, glancing at each other with concern. Saturn's voice had had that old well-known determined tone in it.


	16. Greatest fears

**Chapter 16 – Greatest fears**

"Will we **ever** get rid of that annoying thing once and for all?" Trunks complained. They had been walking down the street for quite a while. Every now and then screaming people ran past them, yelling about mad dogs, six-eyed monsters and cheese cakes.

"They really seem to be aiming for the Main Park," Bulma said. "Drat, I don't like this place. You guys are able to defend yourselves, but what about me?"

"We'll keep an eye on you, don't worry." Vegeta looked up. "Would you look at that, we're not the only ones that are awake."

Goku and his two sons landed next to them. "Hey guys. It's nice to see someone who isn't screaming and running around," Gohan greeted them.

"How did you find us?" Neptune asked.

"Vegeta's aura," Goku replied. "I tell you, this is one flight I'm not looking forward to experience again. The whole world has turned black and melting. And the moon is huge!"

In a few minutes they heard that Goku and his two sons had woken up because Chichi had started screaming in sleep. They had been unable to wake her and as they saw what had happened to the whole world, they guessed that it had to be the same demon. And so they headed for Western Capital to search for the other fighters.

"I'd love to know how we're going to defeat that thing on its own field," Goten murmured.

Uranus smiled slightly. "It may be even easier than before. This here is the world of dreams, meaning that our powers won't be helpless here."

Saturn nodded with a frown. "True, but over here the demon has a huge advantage. It may turn our greatest fears against us." Suddenly she grinned. That didn't happen often. "On the other hand, that may be its end." She kept going down the street.

The others stared at her back. "What… did she mean by that?" Goku asked.

Uranus sighed. "Hotaru's biggest fear is that one day her enormous powers will break out of her control and destroy the whole Universe. I sure hope that the demon knows that…"

"She's capable of that?" Trunks asked as they followed Saturn. Uranus nodded. "Wow…"

The Main Park wasn't far away. Goku scratched his head as he looked up to the amusement park he had been to long time ago. Now it was hard to recognize. Everything was black and melting.

"The rollercoaster," Uranus's sharp voice cut through the silence. Everyone looked up to the rollercoaster to see the demon stand on top of its highest curve. Huge black wings were spread out and their outlines were silver as the moon shone right behind the demon's back.

"Welcome, my dear enemies," the demon's voice boomed over the grotesque amusement park. "You may have blocked my way to your world but I can still attack you when you're the weakest. In your dreams."

"Quite a bad pun," Goten whispered to Trunks who rolled his eyes. Saturn looked up and slammed her Silence Glaive's other end into the dark ground. It flashed for a second.

"You still haven't defeated us," she said. "And we still haven't defeated you. Wouldn't it be time to end this already?"

Vegeta grinned. "Now you're talking."

The demon cackled. "You didn't think it was that easy, did you?" It raised a hand. "Try defeating some of my minions before you face me."

"It calls those things minions?" Gohan glared around. The shadows that had attacked them the last time they had fought the demon were back. They were appearing from every corner of the park and sliding closer.

"We still don't know what happens when those things catch us," Goku remarked, blasting one of the shadows. It disappeared with a puff but ten more appeared from behind it.

"I'm not planning to stay here to find out," Vegeta snarled, floating up in the air. It didn't help him much though. The shadows instantly formed a huge dome above their heads, cutting all their ways out.

"At least this time they can be destroyed," Goten gasped. "Must be because we're in their world now. Take that!" Another shadow disappeared, another ten appeared.

"Man-oh-man, I could really use a flamethrower now," Bulma complained. On the next second she screamed. The others quickly turned around but there wasn't much to do any more. One sneaky shadow had found a hole in the fighters' defence and attacked Bulma's leg. Other shadows held back, as if they had been watching what happens next.

"Drat…" Vegeta formed an energy blast to attack the shadow that was now wrapping Bulma up. Uranus held him back.

"Are you out of your mind? That blast would kill her. We'll find another way to save her." She frowned, watching the shadow that was quickly spreading over Bulma's body. Vegeta gnashed.

The shadow disappeared as quickly as it had appeared, leaving Bulma behind. But she wasn't the same any more. She was crouching on the ground and her eyes were empty.

"Bulma?" Goku stepped forward. Bulma looked up and said quietly:

"Gone… dead… both of them… leave me alone!" Before anyone could say anything, she stood up and ran away. The shadows let her pass. Vegeta wanted to follow her but once again Uranus held him back.

"There is nothing you can do for her any more, you know," she said. "She's now like all the others. If you want to save her, you need to defeat the demon. Well, or the shadows." The demon wasn't on top of the rollercoaster any more. It was gone. Only the ghostly moon was shining above the fairground.

"Now we know what those shadows are," Neptune remarked. "Pure fear."

Vegeta gritted his teeth. "I don't care what they are; I want them off my face!" He attacked the shadows with blind rage. The others had to start fighting again as there simply were too many shadows.

"What exactly did Mom mean with what she said… before she ran away?" Trunks quietly asked Saturn, fighting by her side. The girl frowned. The Silence Glaive whizzed through the air once more before she replied:

"I think she meant you and Vegeta. Her biggest fear must be losing you. Watch out!" Trunks could barely dodge another shadow.

They fought on but they were obviously outnumbered. Suddenly Goten screamed. Another little shadow of fear had caught him. Again the other shadows held back until Goten got overcome with his greatest fear. He didn't even speak a word, he simply ran away as soon as the shadow let him go.

"Damnit Saturn, you must be extremely careful or then find yourself another fear, and fast," Uranus gasped right by the girl's side. The Space Sword shone like the sun but it wasn't very effective. Before Saturn even had time to reply, yet another shadow attacked Uranus. This time it was different though. As soon as the shadow started wrapping Uranus up, a second shadow covered Neptune and they were both pulled away in opposite directions.

"What was that about?" Goku demanded, blasting hundreds of little shadows into nothingness with a single powerful blast. Saturn sighed.

"Uranus and Neptune, they were always each other's greatest strength and weakness. One simply can't fight without the other… would you guys _please_ watch out when I tell you?" There were already so many shadows that in the matter of minutes Saturn was the only one on the field. She glared at the shadows. When they catch her now…

And they did.

But for some odd reason she wasn't afraid.

* * *

Vegeta opened his eyes and tried to remember what had happened. Everything was dark and the air smelled of rats. The Saiyan prince snorted and tried to figure out where he was. He felt shackles around his wrists and broke them. Then he formed an energy orb to get some light.

He blinked. He was in some old-fashioned prison cell. The floor was covered with dirty straws and the others who had been fighting by his side were chained to the walls. It looked like they were asleep. Vegeta crouched down and poked Trunks who was right next to him.

"Hey kid, this isn't the time to take a nap! Wake up, darnit!"

The boy didn't react.

Vegeta frowned. "Trunks… breakfast is ready."

Trunks's eyes opened instantly. "Where?" He hopped up, breaking his shackles. So did Goku, Gohan and Goten in the other parts of the cell.

"As soon as we get out of this ridiculous nightmare," the prince replied and went to the three girls. "Haruka, Michiru, wake up!"

The girls showed no reaction. Goten came closer.

"I don't think you can wake them up by calling for breakfast," he remarked and poked Uranus's cheek. "That'll take something a lot more than…"

He didn't get any further. Uranus's eyes flashed open, gleaming with fury. "Listen kiddo; poke me once more with that rat dung smelly finger and I swear to God…"

Goten hopped back, thanking heavens that Haruka was still chained to the wall. "Hey, calm down! At least I didn't poke your…"

"You wouldn't see any daylight any more if you had done that," Neptune remarked in an amused voice. "Would someone please release me?"

After freeing the girls, Vegeta looked around to see his wife. But Bulma wasn't there.

"We're all here except for her… what exactly happened?" Goku wondered.

"The shadows got all of us." Hotaru's purple eyes were gleaming in the dimness. "Including me. You already know my greatest fear. The demon obviously didn't know that. As soon as it realized that my fear might destroy it, it called everything back and most likely locked us here."

"Quite a foolish thing to do," Gohan said. "Those shackles couldn't keep anyone."

"No, but the bars could. Look." Goten pointed at the bars which were black and consisted of sizzling energy. "How are we gonna break through this?"

"Why don't you poke them and see what happens?" Uranus suggested cynically. Goten rolled his eyes. Saturn stepped closer.

"Energy; and rather powerful dark energy but not that powerful." One single hit with the Silence Glaive and the bars fell down, disappearing like smoke. They hurried down the dark corridor. Vegeta was in front of the others, lighting the way with his energy orb. Suddenly he stopped.

"Now what?" Neptune stopped next to him. "Whoa…"

They were standing in front of a stone maze.

"Check it out… a real maze!" Trunks shouted excitedly. Vegeta snorted and hit his energy orb against the first wall of the maze. The orb flew right through the wall... and the next one… and the next one. Eventually it disappeared in the darkness.

"Not any more. Let's move out!" The prince rushed forward.

"Neat," Goten remarked, following him.

As they reached the other end of the maze, they could see three huge wooden doors. Vegeta took a deep breath.

"What is this, a Harry Potter movie? This is getting really lame… say Hotaru, can you sense the demon?"

The girl hesitated. "Practically everywhere. I believe only one of these doors is the way out though."

The prince grinned. "Yeah. This one." He raised his hand and… blasted the ceiling. When the dust and stones had fallen down, they all looked up to see a very small dark green spot high above.

"Wow, we're under the ground. What a surprise," Uranus remarked. "Okay, you Saiyans, it's time to leave this den."


	17. Face to face!

**Chapter 17 – Face to face!**

As they all flew out of the hole in the ground, they found themselves on a huge field. Several high buildings were in sight, black and melting and many people were wandering around, captured by their fears.

"Where are we now?" Trunks wondered. Neptune looked around and took a deep breath.

"Looks like Shinjuku to me," she said, pointing to a building with two towers by its sides.

Goku frowned. "Where's that?"

"In Tokyo," Uranus and Saturn replied.

Goku blinked. "Oooo… kay…"

"Not that surprising, since we're still in a nightmare, remember?" Saturn took a few steps forward and looked around. "Haven't you ever had one of those dreams where the location changes from one place to another without any logic?"

"Most dreams have no logic in them," Gohan said. "Perhaps we can use it against the demon?"

"This is its world, not ours," Uranus said. "The sooner we get out of here, the better."

"But right now we're in your part of its world!" Trunks claimed. "There were more of your kinda superheroes on this planet, couldn't we find them here?"

"The Inner Scouts…?" Uranus frowned. "They're just kids. They're probably asleep at the moment, having the same fearsome nightmare as all the others."

"Especially Sailor Moon," Neptune added with a slight smile, remembering Usagi's sleeping records.

"There are still the Sailor Star Lights," Saturn remarked. "Perhaps we could find them."

"Shhhhh!" Uranus hissed. "You'll…"

"Jinx it?" Everyone turned around to see the three leather-clad Sailor Star Soldiers standing right in front of them. Star Fighter grinned at Uranus. The girl snorted.

"Precisely."

Neptune tried to calm them both down. "This here is nothing but a dream. Let's try to defeat it once and for all and forget the differences in opinions for a little while, what do you think?"

Uranus and Star Fighter grunted.

"What's eating them?" Goten quietly asked Saturn who shrugged.

"Don't expect me to know everything about their personal lives. Shall we go and find that demon now?"

* * *

It was sitting on top of the Tokyo Tower, looking down to the nightmare it had created. It cackled quietly. The world of dreams had even more potential than the real world. It knew that those pesky humans were out there somewhere but it didn't worry about them much. After all, who could defeat it on its own home field?

Uranus's World Shaking attack hit it when it least expected it. The demon squeaked in surprise and fell for several feet before spreading out its wings and looking down.

"You simply had to have the glory, eh?" Star Fighter asked Uranus who grinned back at her.

"If we would've attacked it together, we could've destroyed it without it even noticing anything," Trunks remarked thoughtfully. Uranus glared at him.

"You have a problem, kid?"

Trunks blinked. "No… nonono, keep it up."

The demon flew lower. "You managed to escape my cells? Very good. How did you get through the maze?"

"Blew it up," Vegeta replied.

"The doors?" the demon asked.

"Never used them," Vegeta replied.

The demon blinked. "The huge pit of flaming lava and poisonous snakes?"

"What pit?" Vegeta asked, raising a brow.

The demon seemed confused. "Fine then. It looks like I'll have to confront you myself since my minions obviously failed." It flew down and landed in front of the others. "I may not be able to use my shadows of fear on you, Sailor Soldier of Death, but I can still destroy you. All of you!" The sky turned grey and the ground became squishy. Neptune stared down at her shoes.

"Honestly, how am I supposed to fight when I'm drowning into _this_?"

"That's why I prefer boots," Star Healer remarked with a grin. "Would someone please explain who this thing is and why is it after you?"

Vegeta took a few steps back, concentrating and turning into a Super Saiyan. He was now ready for battle, even if he would have to fight for days. "That thing is a nightmare and it wants revenge. It has nothing to do with you though, so you still have a chance to retreat."

Star Fighter glared at him. "And let Miss I'm-a-tough-chick here get all the glory? No thanks."

Uranus rolled her eyes. "For crying out loud… World Shaking!" The demon who had been watching the whole scene with a wide grin got the orange plasma ball right into its face and fell down with a furious scream. Uranus grabbed her Space Sword and dashed forward.

"Less talking, more action," Vegeta suggested to Star Fighter with a grin before taking off and racing towards the demon as well. "Hey Haruka, leave something for me!" A bright light caused by Vegeta's Big Bang Attack lit the surroundings. Neptune shook her head with a sigh.

"Why does she always have to jump head-first into…" Before she could finish, the demon had a chance to recover and its long claws whizzed through the air. Uranus was slammed against the deformed foot of the Tokyo Tower. Vegeta got kicked right through the wall of a building, landing somewhere behind it. Neptune hurried to her partner.

"Everything okay?" she asked. Uranus moaned quietly and got up with a grim frown.

"Why I oughtta…" Neptune put her hand on Uranus's.

"This is something you can't fight alone," she said. "It may be defeatable now… but it's still awfully strong. Calm down. We'll beat it together."

Uranus nodded and got up. The demon was now looking at them, waiting for their next turn. Trunks pulled the girl's glove.

"Say Haruka… those heavenly flower things did the trick the last time. What about them now?"

Uranus shook her head. "Don't you think I haven't tried that? They give no reaction. Such things always work with a trick." She looked up to the grey sky. "Darnit, we're in Pegasus's world, how come he hasn't showed up to save the day or something?"

"This here is **my** world, the world of nightmares. Helios has nothing to do with this," the demon said, obviously trying to sound proud and frightening but actually he just sounded bored.

Sailor Saturn had been standing behind everyone else the entire time, silent and unseen. But her eyes were very cold; her black hair was waving a little even though there wasn't a single breeze and the Silence Glaive had almost invisible little black electrical lines running over its surface. She was powering up. The world of nightmares was closer to her than anyone could have imagined.

"Okay, is it gonna take long?" Star Healer demanded. "This is getting a little bo…"

Vegeta, Goku and their sons gasped at that same second and turned around very quickly. Saturn's aura she had been draining from sources only she knew was reaching the very upper limits now. The Sailor Soldiers used different powers to fight than the Saiyans, that's why it was practically impossible for the Saiyans to tell how strong exactly the girls were. But now… they could feel her aura. And it was huge.

The demon gasped too. Suddenly it realized that Saturn had turned into its own worst nightmare. It squealed loudly and dashed forward to attack the girl before it was too late. Goku's quick Kamehameha struck and stopped it.

"Listen, all of you." Saturn's voice was colder and more determined than ever. Uranus and Neptune glanced at each other. "I can defeat it. Now I know the way. But I'm going to need your help. I need you to win me some time."

"Uhm… is she serious this time? We've fought that demon thing for a little too many times now and every time we thought we'd defeated it once and for all," Goten whispered to Trunks.

The other kid looked at the demon. It was huddling by the Tokyo Tower, staring at Sailor Saturn's silhouette. The Silence Glaive was now glowing. "I think it's really scared now. It was scared the last time Pegasus sent it back to its world but this time it looks like it's got no other place to go… if it goes down here, it's lost everything."

"Wow." Goten blinked. "How do you know that?"

Trunks shrugged. "Late night sci-fi movies… it's always the same story."

Vegeta grinned. "We need to win some time, you say? Well, I don't mind that." He turned around to attack the demon but it was now flying away. Star Maker's attack brought it down in a few seconds though. The three Star Soldiers hadn't been paying much attention to Saturn, preferring to keep an eye on the demon instead and now they surrounded it.

"Well, that shouldn't be too hard," Star Fighter commented, looking down at the huddling demon. The creature hissed in fury, glared around for a moment and suddenly flew up in the mould scented air.

"Pathetic humans… have you forgotten that I'm nothing but darkness? Your attacks may hit me in this world but they have no big effect on me. Take that!" It sent out a black whirl of mist the other fighters recognized. It was the same mist that was supposed to drain Sailor Pluto's dreams out. The mist slid slowly towards the three. Star Healer looked at the Saiyans.

"And that is…?" she asked.

"Gonna drain your dreams out and leave you behind as empty mindless bodies," Gohan explained helpfully.

"Got it," the girl grinned. "Fine then. Hey you up there, you say you're darkness? We'll, we're the…" the three formed an attack at the same time, "Sailor Star Lights!" Before the creature could say a word, three bright stars hit it. The whole deformed Tokyo was suddenly lit.

Goku dashed up in the air. "Come on you guys, as long as it's busy!" The other Saiyans instantly followed him.

Neptune smiled, raising her hands to form a plasma ball. "Together?" Her partner nodded.

"Deep Submerge!" "World Shaking!"

The demon was unable to move as all the fighters were attacking it from all directions. It wasn't much hurt either since it had good defence, now that it wasn't attacked unexpectedly. However, the three Star Lights were about to break through its defence. It became worried. It needed to attack back, and fast.

"Down there, watch out for the shadows!" Gohan suddenly shouted. The twisting shadows of fear were back, heading towards the Sailor Scouts that were standing on the ground. None of them had targeted Saturn though. This time the demon was smart enough not to attack the Soldier of Death. But the others were forced to leave the demon and start attacking the shadows.

"This is getting… really old… really fast," Uranus murmured, stabbing her Space Sword into yet another shadow.

"This time we won't get out when they cover us," Neptune gasped.

The Star Lights had backed by them even though Star Fighter kept away from Uranus as far as possible. "Now what will happen when _these_ get us?" Star Maker asked.

"You'll be captured by your greatest fear and don't try to tell me than you don't have any," Uranus explained. "Drat, those guys up there aren't very helpful or what?"

"We, actually they can't let the demon attack Hotaru. She has to finish her power-up for whatever she's planning to do, it seems to be our only hope now and she sounded confident enough," Neptune hissed, sending another Deep Submerge attack amongst the shadows.

"We're a bit outnumbered, aren't we?" Star Fighter remarked. "They just keep coming. What we need is some mass destruction."

"Our mass destruction weapons are up there, keeping the demon busy," Uranus snorted.

The shadows slid closer and closer…


	18. The end of a world

**Chapter 18 – The end of a world**

On that same second a table landed next to them.

"Hop on!" Trunks shouted. The girls stared at him. "C'mon, we don't have all day… erm, night."

"Okay, this is **really** weird," Star Healer remarked as the table whizzed above the shadows that were trying to leap up and attack them but they were already too high.

Uranus grinned slightly. "Been there, done that. Where did you get that table, Trunks, and where on earth did you get that idea?"

"We're in a city, there are a million tables in here," the kid said. "And Dad said that they could handle it without me. My fist is burnt anyway, remember? Watch out, the demon…"

The demon had found a hole in the siege and attacked the table with a powerful blast. Trunks was quick enough to pull the table aside but it still struck Star Fighter and would've hit her over the edge if Uranus hadn't grabbed her hand and pulled her back.

"Don't take it personally," she said with a frown, "it was just a reflex." Trunks flew a little higher with the table. The sky was still grey, the world was still black and the only sources of light were the demon surrounded by the Saiyans' constant attacks and Sailor Saturn's gleaming Glaive.

"Saturn, is it going to take long?" Neptune yelled down. "We may not be able to hold on much longer!" The other scouts had started attacking the demon again, ignoring the fact that they were standing high above the ground on a flying table. There were more important things right now.

"I've almost got it," Saturn's distant voice replied. Surprisingly it was easy to hear, even though she didn't sound like yelling.

"What's your big plan?" Uranus demanded. Saturn probably smirked, even though they were too far away to see her face.

"You'll see it soon enough," she said.

The demon realized that if it wouldn't act quickly, things would get really sticky for it. Suddenly it found a chance, broke out of the energy shield that was attacking it and dashed right towards Saturn. Trunks reacted fast and sent the table in front of it. Five powerful attacks knocked the demon back and it almost fell down.

"It's time. You're too late," Saturn said. She raised her Silence Glaive and now a hemisphere of bright light appeared all around her. The demon gasped.

"No! Have mercy! No! _Noooooooooo_!"

"Typical," Trunks commented, looking down at the demon. "They must all be watching the same cartoons."

Uranus and Neptune gasped too. Now they finally realized what Saturn was up to.

"Hotaru, are you out of your…" Uranus didn't get any further. Saturn's voice filled every little corner of the deformed city as she called:

"**Death Reborn Revolution!**"

And slammed her Glaive right into the ground. It cracked. In the matter of seconds the whole ground was covered with cracks and it started to collapse. Some buildings were already falling down. The bright hemisphere around Saturn turned bigger and bigger.

"Now what's happening?" Trunks asked, looking at Uranus and Neptune. He had never seen the two girls so frightened.

"The end of the world, that's what," Uranus replied, still having some sarcasm in her voice. "This is the attack she's never supposed to use. Because it destroys the whole world, including her."

The hemisphere widened more and more. I was warm and extremely bright. Trunks turned around and flew away as quickly as he could.

"Don't even bother," Neptune remarked, balancing on the whizzing table and giving a quick glance at the hemisphere. Even though Trunks was flying extremely fast, the bright sphere was catching up quickly. "You can't escape that attack. Nothing can escape it."

"I'll try anyway," Trunks snarled and accelerated. The five girls were forced to crouch down and grab the sides of the table.

"Fool," Uranus muttered. Then she looked up into Trunks's eyes. "You'll have to escape this planet in order to escape the Death Reborn Revolution. Can you do that? And can you assure me that you have a place to escape to in this twisted nightmare? Besides," she looked over her shoulder to see the bright energy sphere which was already touching the table, "you're not fast enough." Her eyes were surprisingly calm as she stood up – Trunks had slowed down – and turned around to face the hemisphere. Neptune stood up too. She wasn't sure why Uranus was suddenly so tranquil since the girl had been terrified just a moment ago but she trusted her friend.

The hemisphere covered everything. And then…

…Michiru opened her eyes. She blinked, looked around and tried to figure out where she was. It sure didn't look like Heaven. As a matter of fact, it looked like… the front yard or the Capsule Corporation's main building. It was early in the morning, the birds were singing and everything seemed to be back to normal.

"Okay. Why aren't we blown into little pieces and how the heck did we get back in here?" Vegeta demanded. "Don't tell me that it was just some stupid dream!"

"Stupid dreams don't burn people's hands," Trunks remarked, looking at his burnt palm. "Where's Hotaru?" He looked around. "I think she's the only one who knows what happened back there."

"And I think she has more than one question to answer," Seiya declared, getting up and looking around. "Where the heck are we?"

"My day just keeps getting better," Haruka grunted, getting up too and taking the flowers from her back pocket. "These didn't seem to help after all. Hotaru, where are you?"

"Here…" Hotaru was sitting on the grass a few feet away, breathing hard. "I'm glad it worked. I saw no other way."

"So it wasn't a dream," Goku commented, looking around. "What happened, Hotaru?"

"She destroyed the world – the world of nightmares," Haruka said before Hotaru could open her mouth. "I realized the whole point of her plan a couple of seconds before the destruction. It was indeed the best and only way but it wasn't very foolproof. I'm surprised that we're still alive. After all, we were in that world and we should've gone down with it."

Hotaru nodded. "I admit that it was a very wild guess, I had no idea if we'd survive the attack or not. But I saw no other way. We've tried everything before, you know that. Luckily, we just got transported back here. For some odd reason these three," she looked at the Three Lights, "came with us but I honestly don't know why."

"Let's ask someone who knows." Haruka suggested and pulled her Space Sword out once again. In a few moments a couple of bright white feathers floated past them and Pegasus was standing in the middle of the yard.

"You couldn't have found a worse time to call me," he said. "Well?"

"Having a busy day?" Haruka asked back. Pegasus snorted.

"Hotaru just destroyed the whole world of nightmares. It'll take me days to build it all up again. Sure, I'm glad that you finally got rid of that demon thing that bothered you but hey, I'm the one who has to clean up afterwards…!"

"So it's finally gone?" Gohan asked. Pegasus nodded.

"The last time it disappeared, it went back to its world and started plotting revenge there. But now its world is gone with it. I need to build a whole new world with whole new nightmares. Not exactly my job but there isn't anyone else to do it." He sighed. "The reason you didn't go down with that world is simple. You weren't part of that world. You didn't belong there."

"Those heavenly flowers didn't help us there," Haruka said. "Why?"

Pegasus smiled. "They helped you protect Michiru, remember? They're not meant to do more; fight or destroy. They're supposed to protect the ones that you…"

"Yeah, got it already. Can you tell us why these," Haruka gestured at the Three Lights, "came with us?"

Pegasus shrugged. "Must be because you fought together, I don't see any other reason. Can I go now?" Without even waiting for a reply he disappeared, leaving a few feathers floating behind.

"In short, all we had to do was to blow the world up," Vegeta remarked. "If someone had told me that a bit earlier, we would've spared ourselves a lot of trouble."

Now Hotaru smirked. "There's a big difference between just blowing a world up and completely annihilating it."

"Not when I'm blowing it up," Vegeta claimed.

"When you Saiyans blast something, you generally just break it into molecules," Hotaru said and stood up. "I fight with different powers. I don't break things, I turn them into nothingness. I couldn't have done it without you, however," she added with a smile. "My fighting techniques need a lot of powering up. That demon could've wiped me out in seconds if there hadn't been for you. Thank you all for that."

"Okay, so we finally did it. I want breakfast!" Goten announced.

"Bulma's still missing," Vegeta said, looking around.

"She's probably upstairs, sleeping, like the rest of the city," Trunks guessed. "Hey you three…" he looked at the Three Lights, "weren't you girls just a little while ago?"

"It's a long story." Yaten looked around. "Where are we and how do we get back home?"

"You're on another planet and we should all get home in a few days if something unexpected won't happen again," Michiru said. "It looks like you'll have to stay here until then," she added with a smile.

Haruka snorted. "Perfect."

"Hey everyone!" Bulma pushed the kitchen window open. "Breakfast is ready!"


	19. No more fame

**Chapter 19 – No more fame**

"And what will happen to our concerts?" Yaten asked Seiya and Taiki as they were finishing breakfast. Bulma had told them that they were welcome to stay for as long as they wanted but apparently the three guys didn't even have a free hour in their schedule.

"Well, we obviously can't do anything until we're back on Earth," Taiki replied. "Could someone pass the coffee?"

"You drink a little too much coffee for someone your age," Bulma remarked, giving him the coffee pot.

"I'm used to it," Taiki replied. "Sometimes it's the only thing that helps me stay up 23 hours in a row."

"Your life must be awful," Trunks said. "Why are you doing this anyway?"

"We have our reasons," Seiya replied quietly. Trunks blinked in surprise but didn't ask any more questions. He concentrated on eating with his left hand instead.

"Man, this is hard!" he complained. "If everything else disappeared with that nightmare, my wound should've gone too!"

"I'm surprised that your hand didn't fall off," Haruka remarked. "You slammed it right into the Space Sword."

"Is the sword okay?" Michiru asked. Haruka smiled vaguely.

"What could possibly happen to it? It's my talisman. Hard to imagine that something would be able to harm it."

Hotaru looked up. She had been staring at her plate for most of the time and hadn't eaten much. "Even your talismans aren't unbreakable, try to take good care of it. Trunks, show me your hand, I can cure it."

Haruka and Michiru both leaped forward over the table, grabbing her hand. "Have you really lost it?"

"Hey, easy on the milk jug!" Goku shouted, grabbing the milk jug Haruka had almost landed on and drinking all the milk; just in case. The Three Lights blinked.

"You just lost a lot of energy, you can't try to heal him now!" Michiru stated. "He'll be fine. But you have to be careful. You know you have a weak health."

"What she said," Haruka agreed. "Please, no foolish things until you at least feel a little better!"

Hotaru sighed and nodded. "You're right. I just feel sorry for him…"

"He's half Saiyan, he has been through worse things," Vegeta remarked.

That afternoon Goku and his sons left and Bulma sent the others to the mall. Including the Three Lights. "This is your chance to get some fresh air without getting chased by screaming fans, enjoy it while it lasts," she had suggested and the three had agreed that it was quite a good idea. There wasn't much to do indoors anyway. Only Hotaru stayed home, she was still feeling unwell.

"This time I'll drive," Vegeta announced to Haruka, pushing the car out of the garage – for him it was easier than driving it out.

"Fine, but I'll take the other front seat," the girl replied fast. The others were packed on the backseat. Trunks had to curl up in Michiru's lap because there simply wasn't any room.

"This is really weird… nobody screaming "Look! The Three Lights!" even though there are hundreds of people on the streets," Seiya remarked as the car passed the inhabitants of the city. The day was beautiful and there were no clouds in the sky. The nightmare was over.

"Enjoy it while you can," Haruka suggested, "we'll all get back home in a few days. It's nice to be unnoticed, isn't it?"

"Hey, look!" a man suddenly shouted. "Isn't that the girl who won the League's race last Thursday?"

Haruka blinked. "Vegeta… step on it."

The Saiyan prince grinned and gave gas. By the time they reached the mall, everyone but Haruka and Michiru were feeling a little woozy.

"Hey, I like your style!" Haruka remarked to the prince as they stepped out of the car. Vegeta grinned and took the grocery list out.

"Wow, that's one heck of a mall!" Yaten admired as they were cruising between the isles. Michiru had taken the lead and was now throwing all sorts of cans and packages into the cart. Haruka had explained Vegeta that it was pointless to argue with Michiru about what was in the list. She always did what she wanted.

"DinoSteaks?" Seiya asked, looking at a package. "What's that?"

"Dinosaur steaks," Trunks explained. He had spent five minutes by the ice cream counters, holding his burnt fist in the freezer. Now he was in a bit better mood and was leading the three newcomers around the mall. "They taste pretty well but they cost a lot so Mom only buys them at Christmas or when my birthday is coming."

"What about Vegeta's birthday?" Michiru asked over her shoulder. Trunks shrugged.

"Nobody knows when exactly it is."

"And her own birthday?" Seiya wondered, putting the package back very carefully and blinking in surprise.

"She never tells anyone how old she actually is," Trunks explained with a grin. "Hey look, marshmallows!"

Haruka frowned. "How can you eat those? They're the grossest things I've ever tasted."

"But I love them!" Trunks declared.

"Hey, little lady, nice to see you again!" a voice suddenly called. Haruka turned around to see the same men that had talked to her before and after the race. Now they were wearing jeans and leather jackets.

"Yeah… Jake, wasn't it? You've just had a race as I see," she said. The guy walked up to her with a wide smile on his face and shook her hand. His clothes were muddy and he had a bike helmet in his hand; that's why Haruka could tell.

"You're the most famous girl in the city right now, d'you know that?" he asked. "Yeah, I just bought a new bike. I had to check how well it rides."

"A smart thing to do," Haruka nodded. "It's always essential to become at one with your bike if you really want to win."

"Say…" the man hesitated a bit, "you're a proffessional, aren't you…?" Haruka nodded. "Could you… do me a favor… and check my bike? I'd just like to have your opinion."

"Hrm…" the girl scratched her head, "I'm not sure if I have the time…" She looked at the others. Michiru smiled. She could clearly see that Haruka was really eager to see the bike. New bikes were just a challenging for her as new races.

"We have plenty of time; don't we guys?" she asked the others. Everybody nodded. Why not? Bulma had asked them to be back as soon as possible but hey, a chance to see Haruka racing once again?

"The ice cream is gonna melt by the time she's finished," Trunks remarked as they were heading towards the car.

Vegeta glanced at him. "There was no ice cream on the list."

"Yeah, well… I think Mom just missed that," Trunks claimed.

"Wow, Haruka, it looks like you became friends with the Hell's Angels!" Michiru pointed out as they were all sitting in the car and Trunks was digging the ice cream out of the bag to eat it before it melts. The guys really seemed to be a bike gang of some sort. Their dirt bikes were all painted black, with orange, blue and neon green flames on them. The guys started their bikes and passed the car. Jake, apparently the leader, shouted: "C'mon, to the track!" and they were off. Vegeta started the car and followed them.

"She just keeps getting weird admirers, or what?" Trunks chortled. "First Dabra, now this…" Haruka pushed the ice cream box straight into his mouth and frowned.

"Quit fooling around," she said. "I just want to see if that fancy bike has something good hidden under those nice flames. It sure doesn't sound like a good bike."

"Must be one of those tuned-up pieces of junk someone sold that guy to get a few bucks," Yaten said. Haruka nodded in agreement.

They stopped by the same old racetrack Haruka had practiced on before the big race. The girl got out of the car and went to the gang.

"It sure sounds like you've been fooled with that thing," she said, "but I'll ride it first and then I can say for sure. Gimme that thing." The bike gang's leader got off the bike and Haruka started it.

"Practically dead," she said. "I hope you didn't pay much for it. Let's see now…"

"Haruka," Michiru called, getting out of the car, "be careful. Remember the last time you tried to ride one of those pieces of junk?"

Haruka nodded. "Don't worry. I won't even try getting more than seventy miles out of it." She drove on the track and disappeared in a few minutes.

"What happed the last time she tried riding a piece of junk?" Taiki asked Michiru. The girl shrugged.

"It fell apart when she reached hundred miles per hour. I'm surprised that she didn't break her head back then. It will take a while before she returns so Trunks… let me have some of that ice cream."

But it didn't take even five minutes before Haruka boomed out of the forest; from the same direction she had entered it. She stopped in front of the gang and declared:

"Almost, but not completely hopeless. Does anyone have a screwdriver?"

"Does she actually know what she's doing?" Seiya asked as Haruka was examining the bike's engine. Trunks laughed.

"Are you kidding? She's the **best**!"

"Perhaps not the best but at least I can tell when someone's trying to sell me a piece of old junk," Haruka snapped, getting up again. "There. That should do the trick. I suggest you to take it to a car repair shop of some sort though. That bike is ancient. It has probably spent years in someone's garage before you got it."

Jake nodded. "Thanks a lot. Really. I owe you one."

Haruka nodded too. "No problem. By the way… that guy who kicked me out of the road during that race…"

"Don't worry about him." The gang grinned. "He will race again. Eventually."

"Lynch laws really seem to be common around here…" Michiru said with a smile as Vegeta started the car and headed towards home.

"Not my problem any more," her friend shrugged.

* * *

Bulma was shocked when she heard what had happened. "That gang? With flaming dirtbikes? They've been terrorizing the neighborhood for years. People living in the uptown are afraid to go to gas stations at nights because they usually hang out there and bother people."

"They probably thought that Haruka was one of their kind," Seiya grinned. Haruka snorted and ignored him.

That same evening they were all getting along just fine though. They had managed to find a TV show everyone was fine with and so they were sitting on the couches, watching TV, chatting or just staring at the ceiling.

"We should probably be at some photo shooting at this same moment," Yaten remarked and curled up on a stack of pillows. "Ahh, that sure is life!"

"You could always take some time off when you want to," Michiru said. Yaten shook his head.

"It's not as easy as you think. We depend on a huge network of producers, managers and all sorts of little people in their offices. Fail on them once and you get dozens of cancellations."

"You'll probably get a hundred after these few days here," Bulma said.

"Most likely, but we won't lose our jobs, that's one thing for sure," the guy grinned.

"Say Haruka, don't you think you need a manager?" Trunks asked, throwing a pillow at Haruka who was sitting on the floor with her back against the couch and looking out of the window. The girl caught the pillow with no trouble and stuck it behind her head.

"Me? A manager?" she asked. "What for? I go to the track, I race, I win – once in a while…"

"Mostly, that is," Michiru interjected. Haruka laughed.

"If you wanna put it that way… and I get my prize, ride back home and get on with my life until I feel like racing again. No interviews. No screaming fans. No annoying people asking stupid things about my private life. Why on earth would I need a manager?"

"Yeah, I don't like the idea of cameras behind my window 24/7 either," Hotaru said.

"That was at least the whole Tokyo would know in five minutes when some demon scum decides to show up again," Vegeta grinned. Hotaru smiled slightly.

"Not all of them warn me," she said.

"Still… when exactly can we go back?" Seiya asked. "The longer we stay here, the more questions we'll get when we return."

"Two, maybe three days, I'm not sure," Bulma replied. "The radar will show."

Seiya sighed. "Guess there's nothing we can do about it. Who has the remote?"

"What radar?" Taiki asked. Bulma opened a drawer and threw the Dragon Radar to Taiki who looked at it with a frown.

"It's nothing but a screen and a button," he said.

"It's not supposed to be more," Bulma replied.

Taiki clicked on the button. "Doesn't seem to work either… no wait, now some blinking spots appeared."

Everyone looked up and gasped. "Say what?" Haruka and Michiru dashed forward, grabbing the radar straight from Taiki's hands. Their heads bumped together but they didn't mind it. They were both staring at the screen.

"It works!" Haruka shouted with joy. The others stared at her; they had never seen her in such a good mood. "That darn thing works!"

"Does that mean we can get out of here now?" Seiya asked. Haruka nodded frantically.

"Tomorrow, not today," Bulma announced. "It's already quite late and we can't go searching for the Dragonballs at night."

Michiru blinked. "Dear me, I need to finish my painting when I still have the time!" She rushed out of the room.

"She's still painting it?" Trunks asked. Haruka nodded.

"She likes perfection. Okay people, I'm off to bed and I suggest you to do the same. Tomorrow's probably going to be a busy day."

"She got that right," Yaten nodded, getting up. "It's been ages since I last had 8 hours of sleep."

Before Haruka went to her room, she knocked on the door to Michiru's room. "Come in," the girl's voice called and Haruka pushed the door open.

"You should rest," she said. "You already have the picture; you can elaborate it when we're back home."

Michiru sighed. "You're probably right. It's just that… last days were so intense. Painting is my way to relax, you know."

Haruka nodded. "I know. We've been through a lot here. But right now you need to sleep."

Michiru nodded as well and put the paintbrush away. "Good night, Haruka."

"Good night…" The girl closed the door.

_Author's Note: Actually the next chapter was supposed to be the last but after reading this chapter here before uploading it, I thought that things would end a bit too fast if I did that. After all, the Three Lights don't get to see the Dragonball World every day, especially with Haruka and Seiya under the same roof :3 So if i have the time and boredom (mostly boredom) I think I'll write another chapter or two... or four or five or twenty... o.O depends on the inspiration... featuring a huge Dragonball hunt. And perhaps a few demons and monsters and stuff, or it would be too boring. Let's see what I can up with..._

_As for the darkness demon thing, I really don't know if it's completely gone yet. I can always find another way to resurrect it, I have enough fantasy for that... it would be very hard to find a way to destroy it again though. Coming up with something even tougher than Death Reborn Revolution is not that easy. Not that impossible either. So, my dear readers (or actually Suuki-Aldrea 'cause there doesn't seem to be anyone else... but still something, thanks Suuki... and Aldrea :3), wait for another long and pointless epic that has nothing to do with the original demon any more but is still gonna be there thanks to my everlasting boredom._

_And yeah, I'm only gonna write that because I feel sorry for letting go of that story so soon. Haruka, Seiya and Vegeta have altogether too much potential for blowing things up and getting on each others' nerves. A chance I won't miss... x3_


	20. Off to adventuring!

**Chapter 20 – Off to adventuring!**

Next morning was quiet and a bit sorrow. Trunks was gnawing on his steak but he didn't seem to have much appetite. Vegeta didn't eat as fast as usually and Bulma even had the time to sit down behind the table and have breakfast with the others.

"What's wrong with you guys?" she asked. "You've been so quiet today. It's not like you to spend more than a minute eating your breakfast."

"It's just that… the girls are leaving today," Trunks explained. The Three Lights looked up and glared at him. "Yeah, and they too. I had really gotten used to their presence…"

Vegeta didn't say anything but his thoughts were obviously elsewhere as well.

"It's nice to hear that," Michiru smiled, "but we're not gone yet. Looking for the Dragonballs may take some time when they're really all over this planet."

"With the Dragon Radar and dad's speed it can't take more than half an hour," Trunks claimed with a frown. Vegeta snorted and looked up.

"You talk like it's some sort of a backyard scavenger hunt. Well, kid, I can assure you that those Dragonballs always find the deepest oceans, the coldest mountains and the hottest deserts to land. Besides, they fly with great speed once that dragon has disappeared and that means they'll drill themselves deep inside the ground. Finding seven crystal balls from an entire planet is not that easy."

Bulma nodded in agreement. "I remember when Goku and I were still hunting down those Dragonballs for the first time. It took us months, even with the Radar. Your Saiyan powers won't be very helpful when we have to deal with deep oceans or volcanoes."

Haruka gazed at her. "Months?" Seiya and Taiki gasped. Yaten grinned widely and grabbed another pancake.

"Fine with me," he remarked. Seiya glared at him.

"Are you out of your mind? We can't possibly stay here for months! We can't even stay for two days, for crying out loud! There has to be a quicker way!"

Haruka raised her brows. "Where's your problem? Grab an air tank, dive into the bottom of the ocean and you have a perfectly good chance of retrieving a small crystal ball before some shark eats you alive exactly as quickly as you want to."

"Not to mention 200-feet-long dinosaurs," Trunks added. "The Southern seas are filled with those."

"What are the odds that those crystal balls landed in the ocean?" Seiya asked a bit grumpily, glaring at Haruka. Bulma bit her lip and calculated a little.

"Roughly 70:1, considering the fact that there are seven balls and at least three of them fly towards the ocean which is pretty big," she said. "Say guys, when was the last time the Dragonballs were used? Or actually, where was it?"

"Dende's palace, I think," Vegeta replied. "We had this little incident with Kakarot blowing himself up while trying to help his wife with cooking."

"Atleast **he** tried," Bulma said with a glare. Trunks grinned. "Well, from Dende's palace they can fly very far away… I believe that about three of them are in the ocean, one or two in the mountains and the rest may have been swallowed by random beasts in the forests. I can always make an exact map using my little computer in the lab but one way or another it will probably be rather hard to get those Dragonballs.

"We have no other way so you might as well get started with it," Taiki said. Bulma nodded and stood up.

"Sure thing. It won't take long. You guys can wash the dishes in the meantime." She galloped out of the room, leaving the Three Lights staring at her back and then at the huge pile of dirty dishes.

"I'll go training, call me when you're ready to go," Vegeta said, finishing his breakfast and standing up too. Trunks followed him, giving a wide grin to the three guys.

"Well then, off to elaborate my painting," Michiru said with a smile and went away as well. Hotaru smiled slightly and left the kitchen without saying a word.

"Hey, you can't all just…!" Seiya started when he noticed that Haruka was still there. The girl grinned widely at Seiya.

"In that case, can I please stay and laugh at you?" she asked.

Seiya's eyes narrowed. "Get…… _out_!"

"Sometimes you can be really childish," Michiru remarked with a vague smile as Haruka passed her on the staircase. Haruka shrugged and grinned.

About an hour later Bulma came out of her lab and announced that she had finished the map. It didn't look encouraging. As they were all standing in front of the huge monitor, staring at curvy lines and blinking spots that seemed like Picasso's first encounter with computer graphic, Bulma stepped closer to explain the map.

"As I had thought, four are in the ocean," she said, pointing at the blinking spots that were on the blue area of the map. "One or two are probably very deep, this one here has luckily hit an area in the ocean that isn't deeper than a hundred meters, and this one here is moving."

"200-feet-long dinosaurs, like I told you," Trunks remarked. Bulma nodded.

"Most likely. Dinosaurs like shiny colorful objects, there's nothing we can do about it. So, another one of those Dragonballs landed in the mountains." She pointed at another spot.

"Pretty green hills with random sheep flocks and tiny villages?" Seiya asked with a frown which clearly showed that he didn't believe a word of that sentence.

"High sharp snowy mountains with random yeti flocks and huge dangerous cliffs," Bulma replied with a vague regretful smile.

"Typical," Yaten commented. "You can't just expect them to land somewhere on a green meadow, eh? Did the last two at least land somewhere warmer?"

"This one here is extremely close to a volcano," the woman said, pointing at the sixth spot.

"You just had to ask," Haruka said.

"It's been inactive for the past fifty years," Bulma reassured, "but knowing how I usually end up in neck-breaking situations during those Dragonball hunts, I'm not sure if I can promise anything."

"So where's the last one?" Vegeta asked. "In a deep jungle? In the centre of the Earth?"

"In that city," the woman pointed at the last blinking spot right by the ocean. "Actually it seems to be a small town of some sort but one way or another it's on solid ground and has a good climate."

"So… when do we start?" Taiki asked with a sigh. He had already given up all hopes to get back to Tokyo in less than a month.

"As soon as I can reach that blabbermouthed lady next door on the phone to tell her to water the plants while we're gone," Bulma snorted, pointing at a phone on the table which had obviously seen better days. It was cracked, dusty and looked like someone had hit it against the wall several times. The Sailor Soldiers gazed at it.

"I've told you a million times to get a new phone down here," Vegeta remarked. Bulma glared at him.

"Not a chance! There's no other phone available on this whole planet that would still work after I've kicked and punched it when some moronic businessman has cost me thousands with some idiotic deal. I have a huge corporation to run here, I need my phone!"

"Then how can you come Dragonball hunting with us?" Trunks asked.

"We have branch offices all over the planet; I can step by some of them while we're on the way." Bulma gave a final glare towards the phone and marched out of the room. "That's it… I'm going personal with the neighbor lady!"

About fifteen minutes later Haruka started the plane.

"We didn't exactly take many packages with us," she remarked. "What if we'll need something on the way?"

"We have enough money… and a couple of capsule houses that contain everything we need," Bulma replied.

Trunks was getting more and more impatient. "Can we go now, huh, huh?"

"Sure thing," Haruka grabbed the steering lever, "just hold…" the plane zoomed into the air, "…on."

"Does she ever wait until everyone has fastened the seatbelts?" Seiya hissed to Michiru. The girl smiled.

"Not with you aboard. Bulma, where's the nearest Dragonball?"

Bulma was examining a holographic globe, completely ignoring the turbulence and acceleration. "Well, two of them are pretty much equally away from us. Where would you like to go first – underwater or to the mountains?"

"Underwater," the Three Lights replied instantly. Haruka grinned behind the steering lever.

"Rather 200-feet-long monsters than a nice little furry yeti?" she asked.

"We'll get to your furry yetis soon enough," Vegeta remarked. "And speaking of hairy stinky creatures, are we planning to take Kakarot and his sons along? I'm not that excited about having to protect all of you from dozens of annoying monsters twenty four hours a day."

"Hey, I can protect them too!" Trunks complained as Michiru and Hotaru chuckled.

Vegeta frowned. "Not with that fist of yours. Which reminded me, we could use some Senzu beans."

"Then it's either Goku's house or Karin's tower because they're not on the same way," Haruka warned them. "Think fast."

"Karin's place," Bulma decided, "once we go to Goku's place from here, we might as well head towards that volcano from there. It's the closest to their house."

"That means no stinky yetis or huge dinosaurs, or what?" Yaten asked and stretched his legs. He seemed to be the only one in the plane who felt completely calm about the whole adventure. He had a chance to take some time off and he used that chance, even when sitting in a plane that flies above a strange planet to seek for seven magical crystal balls and possibly face dozens of hideous monsters.

"Not over there," Bulma agreed, "if we get really lucky, we might be able to see a dragon or two though."

"I think I've seen that volcano," Vegeta said, looking at the globe. "There are no dragons over there, I'm sure I would've sensed them. Dragons are extremely strong and powerful. As a matter of fact, I only saw one creature out there and that was some little birdie."

"A huge fierce pterodactyl with giant fangs?" Trunks asked hopefully.

"It wasn't bigger than a swan and it definitely had no fangs," Vegeta snapped. "Haruka, fly higher, you'll miss the top of the tower."

"I was just about to get to that part," the girl replied, pulling the lever. The plane rocketed up vertically.

Karin-sama wasn't very glad to give them his last Senzu beans but the annoyed look on Vegeta's face made him change his mind rather quickly and a little while later they were flying towards Goku's house. Trunks's fist was fine again and the kid sat next to Haruka, pointing at random dinosaurs flying by and yelling "watch out!" every couple of minutes. Haruka's eyebrow had been twitching for the last couple of hours.

"Take it easy, girl," Vegeta suggested, placing his hands behind his head and yawning. "So far it's just him. As soon as we pick up Kakarot's brat, you won't have a peaceful minute."

Haruka snorted. "You sure know how to comfort me." She pushed the lever and the plane fell for a couple hundred meters.

"What dinosaur?" she asked from Trunks with a grin as the kid rubbed his head and glared at the ceiling which now had a huge dent in it.

Goku and his sons instantly agreed to fly along. "It's been a while since our last Dragonball hunt. It would really be fun to go searching for them again," Goku said.

"Too bad I can't come," Gohan sighed. "School… who came up with it anyway?"

"Don't you have school, Trunks?" Chichi asked the kid. She had been about to explode after hearing the idea but Bulma had told her that her house would be a lot safer without Goku being around for a week or two.

"I can read all my books while we're flying," Trunks replied with a grin. "Besides, there isn't anyone at home to keep an eye on me."

"I didn't see you read any books while we were flying," Haruka snapped, " and note that, if I hear the word "dinosaur" from your mouth ever again, I'll turn the plane around and leave you with the blabbing neighbor lady, did I make myself clear?"

"Fine, Goten can go with you," Chichi stated, "if he takes all his schoolbooks with him."

Goten blinked. "Mom, there are at least fifty books!"

"The more books, the less backseat driving… bring them all here, Chichi," Haruka said, ignoring the kid's complaints. "Let's just get going, eh?"


	21. The ball and the bird

**Chapter 21 – The ball and the bird**

"How on earth did we get stuck into all this?" Michiru asked as the plane was flying to the north, towards the volcano. "We were just in the mall, minding our own business when suddenly poof, Rei calls and wants us to host four Saiyans. And then we land here, have to fight some shadowy thing, save the Universe from total destruction and now we're off climbing a volcano? Seriously, I'm supposed to be an _artist_!"

Goku seemed a bit sheepish. "Whoa, really, I'm sorry that we got you into so much trouble… but then again, we couldn't have defeated that demon without you guys."

"We couldn't have defeated it without your help either," Michiru agreed, softening. "But climbing into a volcano…!"

Bulma looked up from the holographic map. "We don't have to climb the volcano. The Dragonball is in a cave near the volcano and the cave seems to be big enough to walk in. We won't even have to crawl and the place isn't too hot either."

"Besides, I don't think we'll all have to go down there to get one single crystal ball," Taiki said. "It's not the size of a truck, is it?"

"Not bigger than an orange," Trunks replied.

"Almost there," Haruka remarked as the plane descended a little. Bulma blinked and looked at the map again.

"So quickly? But…"

"We have a professional racer behind the wheel, what did you expect?" Vegeta asked with a grin. "Okay people, I'll go get that ball, you just sit here and wait. If we all go there, someone will definitely get into trouble."

"Maybe, but I'm coming with you anyway." Everyone turned their heads to see that Yaten had stood up and was heading towards the exit.

"Now what's the big idea?" Seiya asked. Yaten glanced at him.

"I don't get to lurk around on another planet seeking for magical crystal balls every day, you know. What's the worst that could happen?"

"Want me to compile a list?" Haruka asked. "At least wait until I've landed this thing, the landscape isn't exactly… flat. And don't even think about leaving without me," she added with a grin.

"Or us!" Trunks shouted. Goten nodded frantically.

"Count me in," Goku said, grinning. Seiya hesitated a little and then stood up too. Bulma yawned and sat back on her seat.

"Knock yourselves out," she said. "You have the radar, I hope you'll all be able to get back without burning your legs off. I'll just take a little nap here… Michiru, Hotaru, Taiki, are you staying?"

"I'll stay," Hotaru said, "I'm still feeling a bit unwell. You won't need me there, I think… or actually, I hope."

Taiki had stood up.

"I can't let those two airheads go without me," he said. Michiru nodded and chuckled.

"Same goes for this airhead here," she said, looking at Haruka who frowned and pulled the steering lever, landing the plane on a small plateau.

"You're the artist around here, remember? Bulma and Hotaru, I entrust you with the plane, it won't take long, at least I hope so." She pressed the button which opened the door. "Let's get going then."

Everyone hopped out of the plane and looked at the mountains. The air was dry and hot; the rocks were all brown and were reaching for the sky, sharp and ominous. The huge dark mouth of a cave was in the other side of the plateau and that's where they headed to.

"How can a Dragonball be in that cave if it flew through the air?" Seiya wondered.

"It can drill itself nicely through those rocks, landing pretty deep," Vegeta replied. "They have incredible speed and since they turn into stones after being used, they're quite heavy."

"Drilling through those rocks… have you any idea what kind of power it takes?" Taiki asked as his eyes widened when he looked up to the mountains.

"Not that much power." The prince of the Saiyans was the first one to reach the cave, now he pushed his fist against the wall. The rock cracked and Vegeta's fist disappeared into it. As the prince pulled his hand out again, there was a deep hole in the cave's wall. "See? Rocks may look tough but many things are a lot tougher."

Taiki blinked and stared at the hole as they entered the cave. It was dark and Trunks pulled out a flashlight.

"I knew it was a good idea to bring that," he said. Vegeta grunted something and formed an energy orb around his fist. Goku did the same and Michiru pulled her talisman out, just in case they run into something.

"Having a bad feeling?" Haruka asked her.

"Like any normal person who has just entered a dark spooky cave… AAAAHHH!" Michiru's squeal filled the cave as dozens of little shadows whizzed towards them in the sudden burst of light. The Aqua Mirror flashed brightly and then faded again.

"It's just a few bats," Haruka said, raising her eyebrows as Michiru backed against her, staring at the bats with the talisman shaking in her hands.

"I… hate… bats!" the girl hissed, glaring around frantically.

"You were able to deal with three-eyed rats in our basement and you can't handle normal bats?" Vegeta asked, raising his brows as well.

"Don't worry Michiru, they're all gone now anyway." Seiya stepped ahead, ignoring Haruka's annoyed glare. "They don't like the light."

"They will be back though," Yaten added with a mean grin, stepping ahead too. Michiru squeaked.

"The Dragonball isn't far away." Vegeta was now looking at the radar. "Let's move it. Try not to step into bat poo."

"That stuff is extremely valuable, you know," Taiki remarked as they were all going deeper into the cave. Trunks and Goten stared at him.

"What, bat poo?"

Taiki nodded. "Guano. The floor of this cave is covered with real fortune."

"I wonder if Mom will let me take a few home to keep as pets," Goten muttered. At the same moment Vegeta stopped and turned his energy orb off. It wasn't necessary any more because there was light in the other end of the tunnel.

"Ooh, are we reaching the paradise?" Goten asked.

"It had a nicer way to get in," Haruka remarked with a frown, "and the air was better. Sheesh, those Dragonballs should land here more often, that way there'd be more air holes."

"Would you look at that!" Goku admired at the same time. He had reached the end of the cave and was now standing next to Vegeta. The others caught up with them and gasped.

They were looking at a huge cave that was filled with soft light penetrating from a few small holes in the ceiling. There was a small pond in the bottom of the cave, other than that, the walls were smooth and the place was almost empty. Almost. A single stalagmite reached out from the floor of the cave and on top of that, there was a nest, apparently made of fresh branches. It was hard to imagine that leaves could stay fresh and green in such hot air but they had to believe what they saw. Since the end of the tunnel was in the middle of the cave's wall, the nest was right in front of their eyes. It was empty.

"The Dragonball is down there," Goku said, pointing at the pond. Now they noticed a glittering orange ball in the bottom of the pond.

"I'll go get it," Vegeta said, floated up in the air and entered the cave. At that moment a loud screech filled the air and something zoomed out of the darkness in the other end of the cave. It was a big red bird with a golden tail, about the size of a swan. It attacked Vegeta who was so surprised that he floated back next to the others.

"There's a nuisance… would someone hold the bird while I get the ball?" he asked. "I don't feel like flying down there with my mouth full of feathers."

"Why is this bird living here?" Michiru asked in surprise. "It can't possibly find much food here, or what?"

Taiki looked at the bird that was now fluttering in front of their faces, glaring at them. Then he looked at Vegeta. "Is that the birdie you once saw here?"

Vegeta nodded. "An annoying little critter. Probably the only living creature around here. If you ask me then it could use a nice little blast in the…"

"Are you out of your _mind_?" Taiki gasped. "It's a _phoenix_!"

Haruka frowned. "Are you sure?" She looked at the bird. "They're nothing but a myth."

"This one is an extremely kamikaze-ish myth," Vegeta said with irritation. The bird gave another screech and tried to attack his eyes. Vegeta grabbed its throat and pushed the bird aside. It fluttered back in a second.

"Of course I'm sure. Look at it. Red with a golden tail, lives near a volcano, what else could it be? A robin?" Taiki looked at the phoenix. "It won't be easy to get past it. They're very powerful."

Now Goku floated up in the air too and a second later he was holding the phoenix by its neck. "Vegeta, get down there," he said, "before that birdie kicks my guts out." The phoenix was now shrieking furiously and slapping Goku with his wide wings. It didn't have much effect though and Vegeta was already in the bottom of the cave, picking the Dragonball up.

"Of all the places on this planet it had to land here," he remarked, flying up again. "You can let it go now, Kakarot."

"Are you sure…?" The phoenix was getting more and more furious, its little eyes were gleaming and its screeches filled the whole cave.

"What happened to those famous beautiful melodies it's supposed to sing?" Seiya moaned, covering his ears. The others were forced to do the same. Goku gazed around with a tortured look on his face, he wasn't able to close his ears since he was holding the phoenix and the bird was now yelling right into his ear.

"Well, my mom can sing too but try to break into our house while she's taking a little nap," Trunks shouted back at him. Yaten snorted and took the string that was holding his hair together. He stepped up to Goku and before the phoenix could understand anything, the guy had tied its beak up.

"Nice," Haruka complimented. Yaten grinned. Michiru looked at the phoenix with a sigh.

"Such a majestic and rare creature… and look what we did to it," she said. The bird was now glaring at them, it had given up kicking Goku.

"I can always take the string off," Yaten snorted. "Shall we go now? This place is too sultry."

"What do I do with the bird?" Goku asked. "It'll most likely attack again when I let it go." Yaten had turned around and left towards the exit already, his loose white hair was gleaming in the darkness.

"Might as well bring it along, we can let it go when we get on the plane," his voice echoed from the shadows. Goku shrugged and they followed Yaten.

Bulma could just stand and stare when they came back to the plane.

"One Dragonball and one phoenix, any other requests?" Vegeta asked her with a grin, handing her the Dragonball.

"I'll take the Dragonball, keep the change," Bulma laughed. Yaten went to Goku and took the string back. The phoenix didn't even scream any more, it was too offended for that. The guy tied his hair up again and then pulled a small feather from the phoenix's wing, earning another offended glare.

"Just in case," he said. "Let it go, Goku."

The phoenix didn't try to attack them any more, it just sat on the plateau where Goku had put it and glared at the plane until it disappeared.

"You have seriously been reading too much "Harry Potter"," Haruka told Yaten. "Why on earth would you need that feather? Besides, the tail feathers were supposed to be magical."

"Its tail was almost three feet long and I don't think the rest of his feathers are less magical," Yaten replied. "You'll never know where such things might come in handy."

"Yeah, buy a pot of ink and start giving autographs with that feather," Seiya suggested sarcastically.

"Yaten is right," Hotaru suddenly said. "Phoenix feathers are powerful. You'll never know when or where they might prove useful. Keep it well, Yaten."

Yaten nodded. "You bet. So, where shall we go now?"

Bulma looked at the map again. "The nearest one is in the bottom of the ocean, a couple of hundred miles to the east. Haruka?"

Haruka nodded and the plane accelerated again.


	22. Dangerous depths

**Chapter 22 – Dangerous depths**

"The ocean is so pretty…" Michiru muttered, gazing down at the sparkling azure ocean. The plane had reached the spot where the Dragonball was supposed to be and now Haruka slowed the plane down.

"I bet it doesn't look half that pretty two miles under the surface and in front of some dinosaur," she remarked. "So who's going down there?"

"We all are," Bulma replied. "Pull that green lever, will you?"

"The one that says 'Do Not Pull'?" Haruka asked back.

"Naw, that one's a nuclear device… the one that says 'Sub'," the woman explained. Haruka blinked and pulled the lever. Something whizzed and clanked, they could all feel a sudden burst of fresh air and the engine changed its tune. Bulma walked up to the dashboard and looked at a small screen.

"We have two hours before we run out of oxygen," she said. "Haruka, hurry up."

Haruka nodded. "You do understand that I've never driven a submarine, right?"

"The controls are the same as with the plane," Bulma said as the submarine splashed into the water and was all of a sudden filled with soft blue light. "There are a few extra features but I'll take care of those when we'll need them… now follow that Dragonball!"

"At least it's not moving," Haruka remarked, leading the submarine down into the darkness. "Huge dinosaurs seem to be out of the question at the case, eh?"

"Don't jinx it," Goku muttered.

Michiru was still sitting by the window and gazing out.

"You were wrong, Haruka," she said. "It's still so beautiful… I wish I could be a fish and swim out there with them."

Her friend glanced at a pack of fish swim by. "Those things have **fangs**…!"

"We're in the Eastern seas, there aren't many dangerous fish over here," Bulma comforted them. "The dinosaurs prefer warmer waters as well. That Dragonball shouldn't cause us any trouble whatsoever."

"How exactly are you planning to get the Dragonball?" Taiki asked her. "It might prove a little hard to go out there and fetch it." He was looking at a screen on the dashboard. "The temperature is near freezing point and the water pressure keeps rising. How much pressure can that thing take?"

"Enough," the woman replied laconically. "First we'll need to find the ball, then we can worry about retrieving it. According to the map, it should be right below us."

"My head hurts," Goten complained.

"Pressure," Haruka grunted. She was feeling a bit dizzy too. The girl grabbed the lever and focused harder. She was driving the submarine; she couldn't pass out now…!

"Haruka," Vegeta snorted, "slow down. If you reach the bottom too fast, our bodies won't have the time to get used to the pressure and the results may be pretty bad."

The girl nodded and stopped the sub. They remained floating above soft darkness. Everyone felt a bit odd.

"This submarine should be able to protect us from the pressure," Bulma muttered, sitting down on the floor. "What's wrong with it?"

"A leak?" Michiru suggested. She seemed to be fine, even though paler than usually.

"Then the weak spot would've broken long time ago," Bulma replied, pressing her head between her palms. "Argh, Haruka, are we still sinking?"

"No," Haruka's eyes were getting blurry and she had to concentrate to see the screen clearly, "the elevation is still the same." She felt like she was going to faint any second.

"It's getting worse!" Seiya moaned. "How can it possibly get worse if we're not moving and our bodies should eventually…" he had to take a break to gasp for air, "get used to it?"

Michiru was getting paler. Her eyes widened. Suddenly she gasped:

"Haruka… get that sub…"

She didn't finish her sentence but she didn't even have to. Her friend had understood her and now pulled the steering lever with her whole remained might, ignoring the bells ringing in her brain. The submarine rocketed towards the surface.

"I don't think I can take it much longer," Goku said very quietly. It wasn't a complaint; it was more like stating a fact. The pressure was now decreasing but everyone was just getting worse.

A couple of hundred feet before the surface Haruka collapsed. Her hands let the lever go and the submarine stopped rising, remaining floating again. Now everyone was feeling bells in their brains.

"Girl," Vegeta gasped harshly, "don't even think about letting us die here right now!" He was already too weak to get up and grab the lever himself. "You hear me, Haruka? Wake up!"

Something in his voice got through the pain in Haruka's head. Her eyes opened slowly, her trembling hands grabbed the lever again, squeezing it with her remained strength. At that moment someone else's hand grabbed the lever as well.

"Pull!" a voice hissed into Haruka's ear and the girl pulled, still too shattered to see or understand anything but somehow realizing that the other hand helped her pull. The submarine started rising again… slowly, then faster… then it splashed out of the water. Haruka slammed her fist against the button that opened the door and they could all sense fresh salty air before completely blacking out.

In about half an hour they all regained consciousness. The Saiyans were the first ones to open their eyes and a while later the others were able to get up too. The sun was shining brightly and the seagulls were circling above the submarine but everyone felt like they had just come out of a torture chamber.

"Ow… my head!" Goku complained, getting up very slowly. "That pressure thing is tough!"

"I don't think it was pressure," Taiki said, rubbing his forehead. "Water pressure isn't supposed to grow when we went back towards the surface. It was something else."

"At least we got out in time," Goten said, looking at Haruka. The girl still had a terrible headache but her eyes weren't blurry any more and now she had a chance to see who had helped her. It was Yaten.

"Thanks," Haruka muttered quietly as her eyes widened. "How did you…?"

"See this?" Yaten asked back, showing her the phoenix feather. "It started making a sound when we went deeper. A melody or a jingle of some sort, I can't really tell. But somehow it managed to ease my headache, even though not for long."

"The song of the phoenix?" Seiya asked, getting up carefully. "How cliché."

"It wasn't a song; it was just some kind of melody," Yaten argued.

"Haruka," Michiru called at that moment, "come and have a look at Hotaru. She still hasn't woken up."

Everyone gathered around Hotaru who was as white as a bedsheet. Haruka measured her pulse and nodded with a slight smile.

"Slow, but strong," she said. "She has a weak health."

"She was the first one to pass out," Seiya remarked.

"She will recover eventually" Bulma assured them. "Look!" Hotaru's eyes were slowly opening. They weren't purple as usually, but had a rather light bluish shade.

"Music," she said in a very weak voice.

"You mean the feather?" Yaten asked. The girl turned her head for a bit, then turned it back and they realized that she was trying to shake her head.

"Down there," her lips muttered.

"It was some sort of a music that did this to us?" Haruka asked quickly. This time Hotaru raised her chin and let it down again. It was a nod and they all understood that.

"Ultrasound in that case?" Taiki guessed. "If it came from a powerful source, it could have very well caused that."

"Or infrasound," Bulma agreed. "But sound doesn't move fast in water. The source really had to be extremely powerful or then very-very close to us."

"So you're saying that my phoenix feather can block sound?" Yaten asked with a frown. "Somehow I doubt that."

"It didn't block the sound, it jammed it," Seiya said. "You passed out, didn't you? The feather just caught your attention for some time. Just like with loudspeakers and cell phones, you know. Turn a cell phone on near a loudspeaker and it goes nuts for a short while."

"Wow, I had no idea you knew that much about radio waves," Taiki remarked with slight admiration.

"I've had some practical experience," the guy replied with a frown. "Remember that concert we gave in front of 50,000 people and then some wiseguy pulled out a cell phone?"

Taiki smirked. "And you just had to stand in front of the speaker."

"I was surprised you didn't fall off the stage," Yaten added with a grin. Seiya glared at him.

"I'm a professional, thank you. Now, how are you planning to get that Dragonball?"

"Perhaps we could use the feather in some way…" Bulma said with hesitation. "If we amplified it with something, we may have enough time to get down there and grab the Dragonball."

"And where do we get the amplification?" Taiki asked. Bulma bit her lip and pondered for a while.

"I think I need some…" She grabbed a capsule and opened it with a loud POOF. Then she took another capsule and opened that too. After five minutes she was sitting on the floor, surrounded with all sorts of weird gadgets. The dizziness was gone and Bulma was as active as always.

"Does anyone have an electric shaver?" she asked, breaking a toaster apart.

"Here." Vegeta threw her a capsule. Bulma nodded and the plane was filled with complete silence for about ten minutes.

"What if it doesn't work?" Goten suddenly asked.

"It has to," Bulma muttered, completely concentrated on the work. "It simply has to."

"And if it doesn't?" Haruka asked persistently. "I really don't feel like listening to Russian churches in my head again."

"As soon as we start feeling odd again, you'll take the submarine up," Seiya replied. Haruka didn't even argue as always, she just bit her lip, nodded very vaguely and looked at Bulma. The woman took a deep breath, tightened the last screw and stood up, pride gleaming in her eyes.

"Done," she said. "Give me the feather, Yaten."

Five minutes later the submarine was underwater again. Hotaru was sitting next to the amplifier, holding the feather in front of a small gadget that looked like a headphone. Actually it **was** part of Trunks's CD-player's headphone. Trunks had complained a lot but Bulma had simply ignored him and there they were now, gazing at the deep dimness of the ocean as Hotaru held the feather. Michiru had said that since Hotaru was the weakest, she should be the closest to the feather.

"Listen," Vegeta suddenly said. The feather had started making a sound again and the amplifier really was working – the whole submarine was all of a sudden filled with soft sweet melody. Haruka's eyes narrowed and she leaned forward, speeding up the submarine.

"How are things back there, Hotaru?" she asked.

Hotaru smiled slightly. "Fine." She almost yelled, the sound was getting stronger and stronger. "I feel like a canary. You know, the ones miners used to make sure if there was any poisonous gas in the mines or not."

"Yeah, if the canary kicked the bucket then it was time to get lost," Taiki remarked. "So be nice and tell us when you feel like dropping dead, okay?"

"I don't think we ever had that much trouble with those darn Dragonballs," Vegeta stated grimly.

"You didn't," Goku agreed. "Bulma and I went trough pirate caves and the whole Red Ribbon Army."

Bulma nodded. "Actually we have luck. One angry phoenix and one amplifier are far from trouble. I'm just afraid we'll have even more problems with the rest of the balls."

"We haven't even gotten this one yet so stop blabbing and help me navigate," Haruka suggested. The phoenix feather was making a louder sound.

"This is starting to get on my nerves!" Vegeta yelled over the sound as Haruka turned the headlights stronger.

"Better this than the headache," Michiru yelled back. "How much longer, Haruka?"

Haruka couldn't hear her. "What?" Michiru pointed at the Dragonball radar. Haruka glanced at the dials and raised four fingers. That could've meant anything but Michiru didn't ask any more questions. The sound got louder and louder… they realized that their heads would've exploded by now without the phoenix feather. Bulma went to the device and turned the volume down just a little bit.

"Let's hope the batteries will last!" Trunks shouted to Goten.

"Were they full?" Goten yelled back Trunks nodded; his pal raised his thumb. The submarine went deeper. They didn't talk much. They all knew that their lives now depended on that small red feather. Without the feather they'd all simply pass out and then the pressure would either smash them or they'd run out of air. Haruka looked at the radar again and smiled, then leaned forward again and looked around in the bright light. Small fish fled from the light of the submarine; something huge and slimy moved in the distant darkness; they were somewhere no other human had ever been, just because of that odd music they were now protected from. But for how long?

Suddenly Goku put his hand on Haruka's shoulder and as the girl turned her head, pointed at something in the dimness. Something bright orange flashed right next to a huge rock. The submarine stopped and Haruka turned to look at Bulma. The woman nodded with a smile and gestured her to leave the seat. Bulma sat down, pushed a button, pulled a few levers and a mechanical hand emerged from the submarine, moving towards the crystal ball.

"Easy… easy…" Bulma mumbled though she couldn't even hear the words herself. The hand reached for the Dragonball that was gleaming in the darkness. It hadn't seen light for quite a while. Now the iron hand was going to take it out into the daylight again. The phoenix feather was still playing the melody. Everyone was holding their breath… just a few more inches… got it! The hand moved back in, holding the orange crystal ball like the most valuable treasure. As a matter of fact, it **was** a valuable treasure.

Nobody dared to move until the hand moved back into the submarine with the Dragonball; it seemed like an eternity until a small panel opened on the dashboard and a wet crystal ball popped out of it. Goku caught it and a wide grin appeared on his face. Everyone else suddenly burst into laughter with relief and Bulma, wiping off sweat from her forehead, turned the submarine around and started driving towards the surface.

It was a happy return. The phoenix feather was still playing but its melody was getting quieter. Goku was still holding the Dragonball like a fragile egg even though he knew very well that the crystal ball was unbreakable. The others had sat down with relief; only Hotaru was still holding the feather. Michiru noticed that the girl was once again paler than usually. She frowned with concern and informed Haruka about the matters. The girl only gave one glance at Hotaru, then her eyes widened and she rushed over to Bulma.

"Bulma, let me drive, fast!" she demanded – the sound was now quiet enough to speak. Bulma looked up at her wit surprise.

"Why? What's wrong?"

"Let me _here_!" Haruka's voice was so sharp and cold that Bulma didn't argue any more, she got up, Haruka popped down on the seat and at the next moment the submarine rocketed towards the surface, accelerating every minute.

"Can't you at least tell us…" Bulma complained but one single look from Haruka's cold navy blue eyes made her shut up.

"Don't talk. None of you. Sit down and stay there, you hear me?"

At that moment the phoenix feather music faded. Hotaru had fainted and dropped the feather. Everyone gasped but following Haruka's order, didn't move. Michiru was still frowning with concern but now her frown was hopeful. _Haruka's driving. She'll take us out of this. If she can't do it, nobody can and will. Come on girl, just do it…_

The surface was right there above them but still far away. The submarine was racing with full speed and still Haruka managed to accelerate. She was always able to get more out of a machine that anyone else. She was a born winner. And still she started feeling like this time things would get sticky. She could feel her heart beat faster and faster and her eyes were getting blurry again. She didn't need to look over her shoulder to know that the others were feeling bad as well.

But here was the surface. The submarine whooshed out of the water and Haruka slammed the button that opened the door. Fresh salty air filled the submarine again. But instead of passing out they all suddenly felt better.

"Close one," Haruka gasped, getting up and leaning against the control panel. Her feet were weak but now, breathing the fresh air greedily she started feeling better. The others got up too. Michiru went over to Hotaru whom Goku had lifted up. The girl was still unconscious but color was coming back to her face.

"Explanation, please?" Seiya asked, deciding that it was more or less safe to speak again without having to fear that his head would blow up. "Some other type of evil music?"

Haruka slowly shook her head. "Oxygen. There were too many of us aboard and the oxygen ran out faster than it was supposed to." She managed to smile a little. "It's a good thing we have our canary…"

Michiru's eyes flashed. "That's not funny, Haruka!"

"She's right," Vegeta said. "If there hadn't been for Hotaru, we probably would've noticed the lack of air too late. She'll be fine. We have the Dragonball, we still need five more, so where to?"

"The mountains are the closest," Bulma replied.

"Gotta get there sooner or later," Yaten remarked, picking his phoenix feather up and hiding it in his pocket again.

"So let's get going, shall we?" Haruka had gotten her clear thinking back and was feeling strong enough to drive again. She sat down, closed the door and pushed the lever. The submarine turned back into a plane and took off.

"What could've caused that music down there?" Michiru wondered, holding Hotaru's head in her lap. The girl was slowly waking up.

Haruka shrugged. "Who knows? And I don't care either. It's over now."


	23. Looking for the third one

**Chapter 23 – Looking for the third one**

"It's _cold_ in here!" Trunks complained, wrapping himself up in an old blanket he had found under the seat.

"I thought I told you to bring warm clothes," Bulma remarked. The plane was now flying north-west; the landscape below them was covered with thick snow, sharp mountain peaks and huge forests. And it was freezing.

"No you didn't," Trunks argued, "you said that we have a few capsule houses that contain everything we need!"

"Good luck opening one of those houses in here," Goku remarked and yawned. "Am I the only one thinking that it's getting a little late?"

Haruka was trying to hold back a yawn as well. "Too true. We already got two Dragonballs, not a bad showing, I'd say. I think I'll land the plane and let's settle a camp, what do you think?"

"As long as those capsule houses have extremely good heating system, I'm in," Taiki agreed. The others nodded and so Haruka maneuvered the plane down. She managed to find a nice little plain in the middle of the forest. About half an hour later the plane door was safely locked ("Those yetis may be really good pilots, you know!") and the capsule house, cozy and warm, was standing next to the plane.

"Amazing technology," Taiki admired, looking around in the house. "And all that fits into a small capsule?"

Bulma nodded with a smile. Trunks was lurking around the room and pulling open all closets he could find, looking for warm clothes.

"Mom, are there any jackets in this place that would fit me?" he complained. Bulma went over to see about that and eventually she found some warm jackets and trousers for everyone.

"Like I said, capsule houses that contain everything we need," she remarked merrily.

"I could use a thick coat instead," Vegeta snorted. "Where's a pack of yetis when you need them?"

"Afraid of a few snowflakes, Prince of the Saiyans?" Haruka teased him. Vegeta glared at the jacket Bulma had given him. It was salad green and had a huge pink bunny on the back.

"With that powerful Bunny Jacket I won't be afraid of anything," he remarked cynically. "I'm hungry. Where's the kitchen?"

The kitchen was bright white, spacious and most importantly, filled with food. The oven was old-fashioned and gigantic, the heap of wood next to it reached towards the ceiling. While the sky was getting darker and darker and stars started appearing one after another, the kitchen was filled with people and happy chatting. Even Haruka and Seiya managed to get along, but that only might've been because Michiru was keeping a keen eye on them while helping Bulma with the dinner. Vegeta was in charge of the enormous oven. Bulma had announced that she wouldn't entrust anyone else with such a dangerous task.

"Goku, you can chop the meat," she said, rushing around in the kitchen, cutting vegetables and digging out boxes of spices for the cupboards. "Just try not to cut your fingers off."

"I don't need a knife," Goku smiled, threw a piece of meat in the air and made a quick move with his fingers. They couldn't see anything but they could hear a sharp whizzing sound and a second later ten slices of meat landed back on the table.

"How come you never help Mom at home with chopping the meat?" Goten wondered. Goku scratched his head.

"You know she's always so nervous and irritated when she's cooking and she always yells at everyone in sight when she's chopping the meat… I don't want to bother her."

"She only yells at people while chopping the meat because she's not that good at chopping and that makes her nervous," the kid remarked. Goku shrugged.

"As long as she doesn't ask for my help, I won't bother her. Here's the meat, Bulma."

"Chichi really seems to try hard when it comes to ignoring the fact that she has three almighty Saiyans at home," Bulma commented, taking the meat. "Excellent work, Goku." Goku grinned widely.

When the dinner was finished, Bulma fetched all the sleeping bags she could find and half an hour later the house was dark. The woman hadn't even allowed the kids to watch TV, she had said that the next day would be a busy day and besides, the transmitting would be bad in the middle of the mountains anyway. So they all fell asleep, curled up in the sleeping bags all around the house. The night was peaceful and the next morning everyone woke up quite early.

"Ahh, fresh mountain air… we should've run into that darkness demon long time ago!" Yaten announced to the others, sitting on the kitchen window's sill. The window was opened but even though that fresh mountain air wasn't warm at all, nobody complained. All the last remains of sleepiness were carried away with the chilly wind and they all felt better than ever. Even the fact that there were five more Dragonballs to find and retrieving them would probably be far from easy didn't bother them.

"Just get down from there before you catch a cold and lose your voice," Taiki suggested. It wasn't an order but just a friendly suggestion and Yaten, of course, ignored that.

"The more reasons I'll have to stay on vacation," he grinned.

Suddenly Seiya stood up. "How can you talk like that? You know we're on a mission! You know that we need to find…" He didn't finish the sentence because there were too many ears in the kitchen but he knew that Yaten had gotten his point. The guy glanced at Seiya and his eyes narrowed. Yaten wasn't the type you could just yell at.

"I haven't forgotten," he said. "Not even at night when I'm asleep, I remember our mission. But right now there's nothing we can do about it and you know that just as well as I."

"And still," now Seiya's eyes had narrowed too, "you talk about it like it was some sort of an utter nuisance."

"It is!" Yaten snapped back. Taiki's and Seiya's eyes widened; they seemed terribly shocked. "All those screaming fans, long workdays, two or three hours of sleep, pointless bureaucracy and going to school – are you telling me that you like it?"

"We must live that life and you know it," Seiya said quietly and sat down again.

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean I have to like it," Yaten replied.

"And that doesn't mean you have to blab it out loud in front of everyone," Seiya snapped.

"You were the one that started with the issue," Yaten remarked calmly. Calm truth is the best way to irritate people and Seiya was about to stand up again when Haruka said with a frown:

"Shut up, both of you. Yaten is right, Seiya, you started with the issue and there's no need to yell at him. Your life may be hard but complaining won't make it easier, by the way," she added, looking at Yaten. "Right now we're all working towards getting back to Earth so you can get back to your secret mission soon. But instead of fighting and getting on the others' nerves, just zip it and eat your pancakes, will you? Thanks, Bulma."

"You're welcome," Bulma smiled, pouring maple syrup all over Haruka's pancakes. "Yaten, won't you join us?"

Yaten nodded, closed the window and sat down behind the table. The kitchen was quiet. It was an embarrassing silence though and everyone was feeling a bit uncomfortable like always after witnessing a fight and hearing redundant things. Someone had to say something soon and preferably something from a very different subject. Michiru, elegant and sophisticated as always, looked up at Bulma and asked:

"Say Bulma, how far is that Dragonball?"

_Thassa good girl_, the others' faces clearly showed. Bulma frowned a bit, remembering something.

"I checked the radar earlier this morning. It's very near, perhaps ten or fifteen miles away. Not even worth starting the plane if you ask me."

"You'll be the first one to complain when we try going there by foot, city girl," Vegeta remarked with a grin. Bulma grinned back at him.

"Won't you carry me, dearest husband?"

"You and the rest of the gang," Vegeta snorted while Trunks and Goten were rolling their eyes. "With that climate and those piles of snow none of you will last more that half an hour. Except for Kakarot perhaps," he added, making a slight concession with another full-blood Saiyan.

"Then you two can go and fetch the Dragonball while we're waiting," Haruka suggested. Vegeta glared at her.

"And run into yet another lethal music source?"

"They land randomly, it's hard to imagine that all of them would be protected by something powerful," Goku said thoughtfully.

"There's always a chance, isn't there?" Trunks asked. "That's why I'm coming too!" Goten nodded in agreement.

"Looks like we'll all be going then," Bulma sighed. "I'm not gonna stay here without anyone to protect me."

"Just ask all the yetis to sit down and have a cup of tea until we get back," Vegeta suggested. Goku chuckled.

"I had no idea you had a sense of humor, Vegeta," he remarked. Vegeta took a deep gulp from his glass.

"It's not humor, Kakarot. It's sarcasm. Shall we go then?"

A little while later the house was back in the capsule and the plane was in the air again. Haruka complained that the plane didn't take a night outside in the cold air very well and the engine was making funny sounds.

"As long as we don't fall down, don't worry," Bulma suggested. "That plane is quite old already. So, I think we're almost there… what's that?"

"Looks like a… no, we're too far away to say for sure," Taiki said. Haruka took the plane down. The closer they were getting to the snowy forest below, the clearer the picture got and eventually there was no question. Haruka landed the plane and they all got out.

"Cool," Trunks and Goten commented.

"It's in here," Bulma said, looking up. It was a huge temple. Standing there in the middle of the forest, far away from the nearest town, it was quiet and majestic, reaching for the sky. The temple had five floors and it was built of dark wood. It looked like any Shinto temple in Japan even though it was a lot bigger and had the shape of a pagoda. A cold breeze whizzed past, reminding them where they were and why they had come.

"Well then, let's get inside," Vegeta suggested, stepping towards the temple. Bulma stopped him.

"Wait," she whispered, "it won't be that easy. It's the ancient temple of Mara-Ku."

Vegeta frowned. "So?"

"People say that the monks living in that temple are wise, powerful, skilled and very old," Bulma said, looking up at the temple. "They're not ordinary people. It is said that they possess powers far beyond our imagination."

A confused look appeared on Vegeta's face. "Uhuh? Hello? Remember me? The prince of the almighty Saiyans? Blowing up entire planets and so on?"

"I thought it was just a legend…" Bulma muttered, her eyes widening. Vegeta snorted, gave up and went towards the temple. The others followed him and Seiya pulled Bulma along.

"Nice door," Goku commented, looking up at the 30-feet-high door. The knocker in the middle of the door was made of dark brass; it had the shape and also the size of a lion's head. Apparently it weighed a lot but Vegeta slammed it with ease. A moment later the heavy door slid open silently and an old face appeared. It was an old monk with an orange kimono and a very long white beard. His narrow eyes examined the bunch behind the door.

"Yes?" he asked. His voice was like the screeching of a very old shutter.

"We are seeking for an orange crystal ball," Bulma said with slight fear and a lot of respect in her voice. "It should be in here. Can you tell us where to find it?"

The monk seemed thoughtful. "The Master knows everything," he said then. "Follow me." The monk turned around and let them in.

"Way cool," Trunks said, looking around as they went through the vast hallway. The ceiling was high above them, disappearing into the darkness. There were no windows, the place was lit by dozens of candles. As the monk led them farther into the temple, they spotted several monks just like him walking past them. Deep gentle sound of a gong was to be heard somewhere behind several walls and next to their footsteps it was the only sound in the temple.

"I don't think any outsiders have been here for years," Bulma whispered to the others. The monk heard her and said:

"The last time an outsider visited the temple was over two hundred years ago. We live in peace and isolation. However, we tolerate visitors if their hearts are pure and their means are for a good purpose."

"Sounds nice," Yaten remarked.

"I don't like this place," Hotaru muttered so quietly that the monk couldn't hear her. The others did and glanced at her with great surprise.

"Peaceful, quiet, dark… I thought it was your idea of a paradise?" Goku asked. Hotaru shook her head.

"This place isn't peaceful. There's something in here… something _very_ bad… they are trying to cover it but I can still feel it," she said.

Haruka sighed. "Great. Just great. Is it something that would bother us from getting that Dragonball?"

Hotaru hesitated. "I'm not sure. Maybe. It's not powerful though. We might get lucky."

"Dream on," Yaten said sarcastically. The monk stopped in front of another huge door made of thick dark wood. It had odd golden symbols on it and the handles were golden as well. The monk pushed the door open and said:

"Go inside, the Master will help you."


	24. An old fiend

**Chapter 24 – An old fiend**

The room they entered now was huge and rather well lit. Hundreds of candles bordered the walls and the floor was covered with bamboo mats. The door closed behind them and they noticed that the monk hadn't entered. They were on their own now and they looked around the room to see the Master.

There he was, sitting on a bamboo mat with his legs crossed right in front of them on the other side of the room. The Master was obviously very old, his beard was at least ten feet long and his face was covered with deep wrinkles. It looked like he was asleep but when Bulma stepped forward he opened his eyes and smiled.

"Welcome," he said. "How may I be of assistance?"

"We are looking for a small orange crystal ball with red stars on it," Bulma said, bowing slightly: she wasn't sure how exactly she should behave. "It must be in this temple."

"Ah yes," the Master nodded, "more than a year ago a white stone came flying through the sky and landed in the woods near the temple. One of the monks brought it here and we have been keeping it here ever since. Some days ago the stone turned into a crystal ball you just described."

"We must have it," Goku persisted. "Will you give it to us?"

The monk didn't reply. His eyes closed again and it looked like he had fallen asleep again.

"Hey Master," Vegeta called, "wake up and answer!"

The Master startled and moved a bit. Then he opened his eyes again and they noticed with surprise that the look on his face had changed. The Master's eyes were now cold and somehow yellowish. And he was smirking.

"No," he said. Everyone blinked. Haruka and Michiru glanced at Hotaru and gasped quietly. They had expected to see a pale frightened girl but Hotaru's eyes had turned dark purple and her face was furious.

"Why?" Bulma asked. The monk's grin got wider.

"It is a relic and must never be taken out of the temple," he said slowly. His voice was different now, it was… _metallic._

"We need it, old man!" Vegeta said with irritation in his voice. "It doesn't belong to you!"

The Master's grin was now so wide that it was surprising his head hadn't fallen off yet. "Finder's, keeper's."

"That man is nuts," Goku said with surprise.

"No." Everyone turned around to see Hotaru was glaring at the Master with her eyes gleaming and narrowed. "Saturn Crystal Power!" As the transformation was complete, the girl stepped forward and pointed her Silence Glaive at the monk. "He's possessed."

"Smart girl, smart girl like you've always been," the monk cackled. The candle flames flickered. A cold wind whizzed past them even though there was no window or another entry where it could've come from.

"Show yourself, coward!" Sailor Saturn's voice was sharp and demanding. "Hiding behind an old monk… where's your arrogance now?"

Now the monk's eyes flashed in fury. "This is my only way of existence, Sailor Soldier of Death!" he boomed. "And it's your fault… your fault!"

Saturn didn't pay attention to that. "Show yourself!" she called and pulled the Glaive through the air. It started glowing. The Master gasped and fell over. Something dark and semi-transparent slid out from under his body, curled on the floor, gathered itself together and formed into…

"What?" Bulma gasped.

"Oh crap," Haruka and Seiya said at the same time.

"This is getting old," Vegeta snorted.

It was standing in the middle of the room, dark wings spread out all over the place, cold eyes narrowed, sharp fangs gritted, long claws scratching the air. It was semi-transparent and they could see the monk through it.

"You again?" Goku demanded. "I thought we had gotten rid of you!"

The demon of darkness Saturn had destroyed with her Death Reborn Revolution and the others' powers was standing there, right in front of them. Exactly the same, completely unharmed and at the moment very angry.

"Yes," it hissed furiously. "You did. You defeated me, worthless human scum…"

"Ahem," Vegeta interrupted with a frown. The demon seemed confused.

"And Saiyan scum," it added with hesitation. Vegeta grinned. "You have earned my everlasting hatred and contempt, I will curse you all every single day and I swear…"

"Look, you can see right through it," Trunks said to Goten.

"I wonder if I could throw a stone through its butt?" Goten asked.

"Worth a try," Trunks chuckled.

The demon took a deep breath. "Are you listening?"

"Pretty much," Seiya agreed with a grin. "You were about to swear something… well?"

The demon could feel that it wasn't in charge of things any more. "I swear that I'll… I'll…"

"Hey, you have a halo above your head," Yaten commented. There really was a golden halo floating above the demon's black head. The creature gnashed.

"May I at least finish?" it asked sarcastically.

"Honestly, your speech wasn't very interesting," Goku admitted. "Besides, I already got the point. You're dead."

"A dead ghost, just like the ones we say in the Afterworld," Haruka nodded. "Actually it makes sense. We killed it, didn't we?"

"And I will forever curse…" the demon started again but Taiki interrupted it.

"Is there any way to get rid of it now?" he asked. Sailor Saturn shook her head.

"It's a ghost. It can't be killed twice."

"They sent me…" the demon started.

"There are many ghosts that possess people," Saturn remarked, lowering the Glaive and ignoring the demon. "They probably didn't want it in the Afterworld to float around in the Hell and sent it here. Those powerful monks are able to keep it here so that it wouldn't wander around on the planet."

"Exactly…" The creature was interrupted again.

"If that Master is one of the wisest and most powerful humans on this planet then how come that thing," Vegeta pointed at the offended demon, "got out and took over his body?"

Saturn looked at the creature. "Yes, I'd like to know that too."

"What, now it's my turn to answer?" the demon asked sarcastically. The Silence Glaive whizzed through the air.

"Talk!" Saturn demanded. The creature sighed and sat down, folding its wings together.

"That Master or how they like to call the human has extreme mental powers," it said. "He has complete control over me. I'm weak now, I will never be as powerful as I was and I'm trapped in that human's body until he dies. That won't happen for another couple of hundred years and by that time there will be another human powerful enough to take control over me."

"Complete control?" Seiya asked. "You took him over a minute ago."

The demon shrugged. "He's old. Sometimes he forgets that he's supposed to control me."

"So you're actually able to take his body over, leave the temple, gather an army of darkness or something like that and take over the world?" Trunks asked.

The demon snorted. "With a body that can't move ten steps without getting a heart attack? Give it a try yourself kid, I'd love to see you accomplishing that."

"So…" Vegeta frowned, "can we get that Dragonball now?"

The creature peered at the Glaive. "Heck, why not? It's in the garden; they stuck it somewhere in a pond. Go find it yourselves, and hey Saiyan prince," Vegeta had gone to the door already, "slam the door open real hard, will you?"

Vegeta kicked the massive door open and the monk who had been listening behind the door fell on his back in the middle of the hallway. The demon chuckled. Sailor Saturn turned back into Hotaru and as the Silence Glaive disappeared, the demon turned back into mist and curled back into the Master. Goku closed the door again and they went back towards the entrance.

"That was even easy," Yaten said when Vegeta took the Dragonball out of the pond behind the temple.

"Yeah, luckily we have our canary," Haruka agreed. "Do you think it won't bother us any more, Hotaru?"

"Unless it finds a younger body," Hotaru agreed. "The Master is powerful enough to control it though, it won't leave the monk. That demon had physical powers; mentally it wasn't stronger than any other nightmare. So Bulma, where's the next Dragonball?"

"Not far away from Western Capital," Bulma replied. "That's the one we could've retrieved first if you hadn't wanted to fetch Goku. Shall we go?"

"Sure," the others agreed and went back to the plane.


	25. The sunken city

**Chapter 25 – The sunken city**

"So… we're going to the bottom of the ocean again?" Trunks asked a bit nervously, looking down at the glittering surface of the sea. "What if we run into some music source like the last time?"

"Where's your problem?" Haruka asked sarcastically. "You're not the one who has to use her last tiny little strings of strength trying to pull the submarine back to the surface and thus save us all."

"Yeah, I'll just have to sit back and think of nothing but unbearable headache," Trunks retorted.

"We almost ran out of air the last time," Bulma said, entering the cabin – she had been in the tiny little room under the cabin adjusting the air tanks. "This time we have three times as much, the tanks will compress the air and filter out all unnecessary components, leaving only pure oxygen for us to breathe."

"Sounds nice… but what about all unforeseeable incidents such as monsters and aliens and stuff?" Yaten asked, raising his brow.

"We'll improvise," Bulma replied as the plane turned into a submarine and splashed into the water, instantly filling with soft blue light.

"Reassuring," Taiki muttered.

"Hey, that looks a lot better than the other ocean we dived in," Goten remarked, looking out of the window. He was right. The water wasn't that dark and it was easier to see.

"It's not too deep," Haruka said, "I can already see the bottom. Heh, we don't even have do switch the headlights on. Bulma, where's that Dragonball?"

"Keep driving on, it's right on our course," Bulma replied, examining the map. "Keep an eye open guys, if anyone sees any monsters or hears anything funny, scream as loud as you can."

"Oh please…" Vegeta snorted.

"Better safe than sorry," Bulma snapped. "We already met a phoenix, lethal music and possessed monks; I'm not interested in running into some rabid mermaids at the moment."

"Actually I can't even see any fish," Goten commented. "There's only water and some plants."

He was right. There really were no fish or other sea creatures. The clear waters were surprisingly empty.

"I wonder why…?" Michiru asked in surprise. The others shrugged.

The submarine was swimming up a small hill. Haruka glanced at the map.

"Looks like the Dragonball is on a wide plain of some sort," she said. "Right behind that hill."

"Get ready to see something mysterious, wonderful, unbelievable and generally impossible to imagine," Trunks predicted as the peak of the hill approached.

"What, a plain?" Goku asked.

Trunks glared at him. "There's never just a plain… every time someone reaches the top of a hill, they see something wonderful and unbelievable and so on and so on."

"You need to watch less TV," Vegeta commented.

"He may be right," Michiru said with a smile. "The underwater world is beautiful and stunning, whatever the sight may be from the top of that hill, it most definitely isn't something you could just look at and say something like "oh, how nice"."

A gasp emerged from the driver's seat.

"Michiru," Haruka said slowly, "have you any idea how right you were?"

The others turned around to look out of the front window. The submarine had reached the peak and was now floating right above the hill. Haruka had stopped the sub to give the others some time to admire the view.

Trunks and Goten jumped to the window and pushed their noses against the glass. "Wow! Coooool!"

"But it… can't be!" Taiki said in great surprise, staring out as well.

"You actually say something like that after the past couple of days?" Seiya asked, stepping to the window.

Michiru's eyes had simply widened.

The plain in front of them was huge and quite well lit; the surface was only a couple of hundred meters above and the water was surprisingly pure. There were still no fish but colorful plants grew all over the plain, they could even see the silhouette of a sunken ship farther on the plateau. But the plateau itself…

"No wonder the water is so clean," Hotaru's calm voice remarked behind everyone else. "There's no mud or sand that would make the water dirty."

The plain was covered with stones, but not just with any stones. Huge blocks. Smaller paving stones. Square ones, round ones. And they formed into streets, houses, towers, temples…

"It's a city!" Michiru whispered.

"Just like Atlantis," Taiki agreed with admiration.

"Would it be possible…?" Bulma asked very quietly, throwing a capsule in the air. A book landed in her lap, she opened it and started reading quickly.

"Those Dragonballs sure find the most interesting places to land," Vegeta commented.

"Indeed," Bulma said. "That must be it… the legendary Edge Capital!"

The others stared at her. "Say what?"

"Well," Bulma explained, looking up form the book, "as you know, our planet has five capitals – Northern, Southern, Eastern and Western Capitals plus the main one, Central Capital. But an old legend says," she started reading again, "that back on the ancient days when the cities were built people lived in complete harmony and peace. Everything had a center, a meaning, nothing was built randomly. Everything had a polar opposite. Northern and Southern Capitals were polar opposites, Western and Eastern Capitals were polar opposites; Central and Edge Capitals were also polar opposites."

"But the inhabitants of this city here were evil and so the gods decided to banish them, letting the city sink to the bottom of the ocean?" Seiya asked.

"Naw, it was probably just an earthquake," Bulma replied, turning the page, "but nobody has seen the Edge Capital for hundreds of years so it was considered a mere legend."

"No wonder, it's pretty far away from the coast," Haruka remarked, starting the sub again. "Now, how about that Dragonball?"

"In one of those houses, I assume," Bulma said, looking at the map as the submarine drove on. "We're getting close."

"There's something I really don't like about that city," Michiru suddenly commented. Haruka looked back over her shoulder.

"What do you mean?"

"The Edge Capital has been sunken for hundreds of years, right?" Michiru asked slowly, looking at the houses slide by.

Vegeta caught her thread. "She's right… look at those houses. Hundreds of years underwater should turn them into ruins. But these even have roofs. The city looks like it has sunken yesterday."

"Then there would be dead bodies," Hotaru remarked, "but you're right. Not only that; look at the gardens."

"What about them?" Goku asked, looking down as Haruka turned the submarine and drove over a garden. It was filled with colorful water plants that were growing between footpaths and crawling up the side of the house.

"It's a garden, that's what!" Taiki said. "Look at it! It's… organized! Red swirly things grow on one flowerbed, yellow wavy things on the other one. They have been planted here."

"Someone still lives here?" Trunks asked slowly.

"Let's ask that guy over there, shall we?" Haruka suggested in a slightly hysterical voice even though it had a lot of sarcasm in it. Everyone turned around to see someone floating in front of the submarine above the brick road. Haruka stopped the submarine.

"Who the heck is that?" Goten asked with surprise.

"Sure doesn't look like a mermaid," Yaten agreed.

The creature was shaped like a human but its arms and legs ended with wide fins, making it look a bit like an overgrown walrus. It was completely covered with silvery scales and it had long white hair that was flowing in the water. Its eyes looked like fish eyes but they were living, moving and at the moment looking at them.

"Kinda creepy," Goku agreed.

"There's more," Haruka commented, looking around. "Looks like they're living here." There really were more of those creatures swimming out of the houses and stopping next to the first one, turning around and looking at the submarine as well.

Vegeta glanced at his wife. "Rabid mermaids, huh?"

"They don't look rabid… and they don't look like mermaids either," Bulma argued.

"Yeah, once you're used to sweet little girls wearing a fish tail and two seashells sitting on top of rocks and looking at the shore all day long…" Seiya snorted. "I think they're some sort of an amphibian race."

"Do they look hostile to you?" Michiru asked a bit worriedly.

"With eyes like these? Come on, even a goldfish looks hostile when you stare at it for too long," Trunks remarked.

"Goldfish **are** hostile," Seiya interrupted. "Vicious little critters, always ready to bite your finger off and always cursing the fact that humans are a bite too big for them."

"We intruded into their home, no wonder they're careful," Vegeta said. "Let's just get the Dragonball and leave these here alone. Bulma, where's that crystal ball supposed to be?"

Bulma zoomed the map in. "Looks like next to one of those houses. Drive onward a little, Haruka." The girl started the submarine again and it moved carefully towards the creatures that looked at the submarine and then suddenly reached out their… well, arms.

"Stop right there, surface beings," a voice filled the cabin. It reached their brains without even bothering their ears. "Trespassers aren't allowed here."

"We only came to seek what's ours," Bulma said with hesitation, she wasn't sure if the creatures outside would hear her. They did; and they seemed annoyed.

"Everything that's down here belongs to us," the voice claimed.

"I was really hoping that for once getting the Dragonball would be easy," Seiya groaned.

Vegeta's eyes had narrowed. "It will. Let me just blast the stuffing out of their scaly…"

"What, through the submarine's wall?" Haruka asked, raising a brow.

Vegeta shut his mouth. "Is there any way to get out there?" he asked then with slight annoyance in his voice.

"Not underwater," Bulma shook her head.

"We command you to leave, now!" the voice boomed. Haruka looked back at the others.

"Suggestions?" she asked with a frown.

"Let's get that Dragonball," Seiya announced firmly. "We need it, don't we?"

Haruka nodded slowly and suddenly the submarine rocketed on, whizzing past the sea creatures and leaving a long stream of bubbles behind. They could all hear furious yelling as Haruka drove the submarine on and on, following the small blinking spot on the screen. It was getting closer… and closer… and stopped. Suddenly all the machines died out and the submarine remained floating in the clear water.

"Wasn't me," Haruka said, looking around. "I think we underestimated them…"

The creatures appeared in front of the window again. This time their fish eyes were even colder – if it was actually possible.

"What exactly happened?" Trunks asked a bit nervously.

Goku tried to peek out of the window. "Looks like we're inside some sort of a bubble."

Bulma gasped. "We're doomed! Now we're certainly gonna die! The engines are dead, we're two hundred meters underwater and surrounded by evil fish people! And we can't even fight back!"

"How exactly were you planning to fight back?" Haruka asked curiously from under the dashboard. She was sitting there and examining all the gadgets and wires.

"That's not the point!" Bulma hissed. "What are you trying to do under there anyw…" The engines started again. Bulma blinked.

"Are there any torpedoes here?" Haruka asked, crawling out again. Bulma frowned.

"That red lever. No, not the "Never Pull This One"… the next one."

The whole submarine shook when Haruka pulled the lever and a huge torpedo boomed out… but it had no effect. The semi-transparent bubble's surface stopped it with ease and it fell down, rolled down the bubble's surface and eventually stopped against the side of the sub, giving a sad 'clank'. At the same moment the ceiling screeched and the walls started deforming.

"The bubble is shrinking! They're planning to crush us!" Bulma shouted with fear.

"The only good way to deal with trespassers," Vegeta remarked thoughtfully. "And there's nothing we can do."

"Vegeta," Bulma glared at him hysterically, "do something!"

"Were you paying attention?" Vegeta asked, raising a brow. "If I blast them, I'll also blast the submarine and I don't think we'd make it after that. Besides, the bubble doesn't seem to be very breakable." The ceiling bent in more and more. The engines were roaring in pain. The lights were flashing.

"We'll see about that." Everyone looked around to see who had been talking and a second later they were all staring at Michiru who had been awfully quiet the whole time. Now she was standing in the middle of the cabin and her eyes were flashing. She was furious. The calm elegance was completely gone. Usually, even fighting as Sailor Neptune she remained quite peaceful and determined but this time all her emotions had broken out.

"The ocean represents freedom," she said and her voice was trembling with rage. "Everyone is free to come and go here. Nobody owns the seas, nobody's allowed to make rules here and most importantly, nobody who have trespassed here themselves have the right to call anyone else trespassers."

She looked around at the others who took a step back when they saw the look in her marine blue eyes. "I managed to read their past from their minds thanks to my Talisman. This race moved in after the city had sunk, ate all living beings that had sunk along with the city and stayed here, living in those old houses and hunting peaceful sea creatures nearby. Eventually all the living things escaped or were eaten and this area remained dead. Only those beings and the plants they used to attract sea creatures live here now. That race destroyed this part of the ocean, and for that they'll pay."

"So how are you planning to give them the bill?" Yaten asked, looking up at the ceiling that was now pretty close to his head.

Michiru reached out her hand and the Aqua Mirror appeared in it. The Mirror flashed and started glowing brightly. A second later Michiru had transformed into Sailor Neptune without even bothering to use her transformation wand.

"I had no idea that the Mirror was able to glow so brightly," Hotaru remarked with admiration. The front window had cracked but the fish people behind it seemed petrified. They had a good reason for it. After all, they were the object of Michiru's utter rage. The girl grabbed the Mirror with both hands.

"Aqua…

…Mirror…

…REFLECTION!"

They weren't sure what happened next because the submarine shook and then started rattling frantically. Everyone was busy holding on and preventing themselves from being hit unconscious against the steel walls. Suddenly the submarine stopped and fell down.

On something hard.

"Where exactly… are we now?" Trunks asked, holding his head between his palms. "Ouch."

Vegeta looked out of the window. "Whoa," was the only thing he said. The others managed to get up too and looked out of the window. They gasped.

The waves had backed. The submarine was standing in the middle of the bottom of the ocean and the water towered above them, being held back by something glittery blue, misty and shadowy. It was like sitting in a watery crater. The fish people were also there, all around the submarine and all of them out of water. They were twitching and choking.

"They'll die," Taiki said quietly.

"Serves them right," Neptune grunted. Her eyes were still furious and cold.

Suddenly a hand landed on her shoulder. "Michiru," Haruka said with a vague frown, "I don't recognize you. You're not like that."

The look in Neptune's eyes softened a bit. "Haruka…?"

"There are other ways to solve this. I believe they already learned a lesson, please let them live." Haruka's eyes narrowed. "Michiru, please?"

Neptune hesitated, and then her arms slackened. At that same moment something hit against the side of the submarine like a raging dinosaur. For a couple of seconds there was nothing but spinning around… eventually the submarine stopped and remained floating again, this time upside down. Somehow it was still waterproof, though a lot smaller than before and terribly deformed.

"The waves… came back," Goku muttered, looking at the blue light filling the sub and pondering whether he would throw up or not.

"We have displeased you, oh great Goddess of the Oceans," the familiar voice suddenly filled their heads again. The headaches tried to fight against letting that voice in but they had to retreat.

"Goddess of what?" Trunks asked, sitting up. Everyone glanced at Michiru.

"Probably… some old legend…" the girl murmured. She was very weak and felt dizzy. The sight of dozens of water creatures floating behind the window didn't make her feel any better either.

"We were wrong. We have displeased you. What can we do to make it up to you?" the voice asked. Michiru took a deep breath and stood up, even though her legs were shaking.

"The Dragonball," she said firmly. "And take us to the surface. You have five minutes."

Five minutes later they were all sitting in the deformed piece of metal that had once been the submarine. The door was opened, fresh salty air was flowing through the cabin and countless pairs of fins were pushing the submarine towards the coast. Michiru was holding the wet Dragonball.

"Repairing the plane will take a little while," Bulma remarked.

"How long?" Hotaru asked. The woman shrugged.

"Two, maybe three hours when Vegeta helps me a little."

"Not a problem," the Saiyan prince said. "And after that?"

Bulma looked at the map. "The moving Dragonball is the closest. Odd… I could've sworn that it was in the ocean as well. Now it's definitely in the inland."

"We'll get it one way or another," Haruka said with a grin. "Right guys?"

"Right," the others agreed.


	26. Problem with the Dragonball

**Chapter 26 – Problem with the Dragonball**

The sun was setting as the plane flew farther to south-east. Bulma had repaired it and even though the walls were still a bit dented, it flew very well and the damage caused by the sea people was barely to be noticed, even though Bulma claimed that the engines didn't work the way they should have.

"I think we should settle a camp again," Haruka yawned. "It's getting dark and we won't get the Dragonball tonight one way or another. I think it'll take three days until we get there."

"Three days?" Seiya stared at her. "We managed to find four Dragonballs in two days, now you're telling me that the other three will take twice as long?"

"Look at the map," Haruka replied with a frown. "The first four were rather close to each other. But the other three travelled a lot farther; besides, this one is moving, apparently it's inside some creature and that means it can travel even farther away from us by the time we get there. And it moves fast. Surprisingly fast."

"Maybe it's not a creature," Vegeta guessed. "It may very well be another Dragonball hunter."

"You mean like the… Red Ribbon Army?" Goku asked, raising his brows. "I destroyed it a long time ago."

"There may be others," Vegeta said. "You'll never know. After all, you can't think that seven magical crystal balls that fulfill your every wish never get any attention other than ours."

"Vegeta's got a point," Yaten remarked, walking up to the map and looking at the blinking spots. "It was in the ocean when we started our quest, right? And after a couple of days it has travelled far to the inland, covering about…?"

"Three thousand miles," Haruka finished his sentence. "Amazing speed, if you ask me. Too much for any living creature… or what, Bulma? You know the dinosaurs around here."

Bulma nodded. "It can't possibly be a dinosaur, they're rather lazy. Actually I can't even imagine it being a machine. It moves too fast. I mean, this plane here is driven by one of best professionals in racing," Haruka grinned widely, "and it doesn't move that fast."

"So it's not a living being and not a machine either?" Seiya asked with a frown. "Or wait… what if it's a Saiyan?"

"Too slow," Vegeta replied. "A Saiyan is able to circle the globe within hours."

Seiya raised his brows. "So… why are we spending days on this quest anyway?"

Vegeta sighed. "Because the Dragonballs aren't nice enough to lay on the ground just like that and retrieving them from the bottom of the ocean while being surrounded by evil fish creatures isn't as easy as you may think."

Seiya blinked. "Right. I forgot that part. But couldn't you just fly ahead and see who or what it is?"

The Saiyan prince nodded. "Of course I can. But I won't. I'm not your bloodhound and besides, it's getting dark and I'm hungry."

"Let's just hit the hay," Haruka suggested, leading the plane down. "As long as we have the radar, it won't escape us."

They spent the whole next day flying. Everybody was bored to death and Haruka made a few somersaults in the air just to "keep up the excitement" as she remarked. It worked. They spent rather thrilling ten minutes trying to get their breathing back to normal.

Michiru had been sitting next to Haruka and watching the clouds slide by the whole time; now she glanced at the dashboard and commented:

"Haruka, I think the plane is running low on gas."

"Yeah, I noticed that a couple of miles ago," Haruka agreed with concern. "There should be enough left for another hundred miles or so but then…" She looked down. "We're flying above a huge forest. Finding a gas station here won't be easy."

"There should be a map showing gas stations right over there," Bulma claimed.

Haruka sighed. "Okay, which lever?"

"Not a lever. A button. The green one that says "More Food"," Bulma instructed.

"You really had a lot of fun building that plane, didn't you?" Haruka asked, pressing the button. A holographic map spread out in front of her.

"Someone read that, I need to drive," the girl grunted and Michiru leaned closer.

"There's one to the east but it's very far away," she said.

Haruka turned the plane to the east. "No problem, we'll just fly on until we run out of gas and then our almighty Saiyans will carry the plane, right guys?"

"So now we're supposed to play some sort of camels for you?" Vegeta asked with a grunt.

"Either that or we'll crash into those sharp-looking fir trees down there," Haruka replied.

Vegeta snarled. "Ugh, fine. Wake me up when we start falling." He leaned back and fell asleep.

About an hour later the plane really ran out of gas, Vegeta and Goku flew outside, took the plane on their shoulders and carried it on towards the gas station. The two brats floated by their side, keeping the plane balanced.

"So… how fast can they actually fly?" Yaten asked Bulma, peering at the forest slide by. Bulma shrugged.

"Fast enough to turn us into bloody pancakes against the side of the plane… we have plenty of time, don't we? Sit back and enjoy the ride. Actually it would be cheaper to let them carry us to all the Dragonballs but hey, Mr. Almighty Prince of the Saiyans will be grumpy about that without a single doubt. And Goku can't carry the plane alone. He'd drop us. Trust me; I know how clumsy he can be…"

After the plane was filled with gas again, Haruka set course to the Dragonball. It was a lot farther than before.

"It really travels with extreme speed," she said with admiration and slight concern. "Too fast to be any kind of machine. I think it may cause us some trouble."

"Where's it heading to?" Taiki asked. Haruka frowned and examined the map.

"Hard to say… but I'd say that it's getting slower." She zoomed in. "Hey… actually it has almost stopped. Whatever is carrying the Dragonball must be seeking for something. It travelled fast the whole time and eventually reached the more or less exact area."

"We still have a couple of thousand miles to go… Goku, can't you do your instant translocation?" Bulma asked. Goku shook his head.

"I have no idea what kind of aura I should look for."

"Let's just fly on and see about it when we get there," Haruka suggested with a sigh. The rest of the day was quiet. But the next morning, when they packed the capsule house and got on the plane, Haruka opened the map and gasped.

"Houston, we have a problem," she said.

"What's Houston?" Trunks asked.

"Never mind… the Dragonball is gone!" Haruka grunted. Everyone leaped closer.

"Impossible!" Bulma announced. "The Dragonballs can't be destroyed. It couldn't have turned into a stone yet either, the other Dragonballs are still there!"

"Well, this one's missing," Haruka snapped. "Nowhere on this planet. See?" She zoomed out. The whole globe circled in front of their eyes. "Nothing. Gone. Vanished."

"There's only one explanation," Yaten't calm voice remarked. "It's not on this planet."

"An alien?" Goten and Trunks asked at the same time.

"That would explain the quick travelling and seeking… it was probably looking for a place to contact its mothership," Goku guessed. Vegeta grunted and muttered something about too much late-night sci-fi movies. Bulma sighed and remembered Vegeta where **he** had come from.

"So what do we do now?" Taiki asked with a frown.

"We ask for help," Hotaru's sharp voice replied. Everyone turned to look at her. "Haruka, Michiru, you'll have to contact Sailor Pluto again."

Both girls frowned. "It's not that easy," Michiru said. "She controls the Space and Time; she can't be reached by a single phone call. She only shows up by herself."

"Use your Talismans," Hotaru persisted, "they're meant to track each other down."

"Only on our Earth," Haruka said. "She showed up here occasionally because the Universe was in danger and she kept an eye on us. Now she has no reason for that and she may be anywhere at the moment, possibly too far away to hear our call."

"We can always try, can't we?" Goku suddenly asked. Everyone noticed that he was standing in the middle of the cabin with two fingers on his forehead. He was concentrating for the Instant Translocation technique.

"What exactly are you planning…?"

They vanished.


	27. There's the fifth

**Chapter 27 – There's the fifth**

"To do," Bulma finished the sentence and glared out of the window. "Now where did you take us?"

Haruka looked out too. Pink sky above them, yellow clouds below and a small house standing in the middle of those clouds. She grinned.

"Goku, you're a genius," she said and drove the plane down.

"He is?" Bulma asked, blinking. The plane already landed in front of the house which turned out to be a small, yet very crowded tavern with a WELCOME sign above the door.

"So… where exactly are we now?" Seiya asked, stepping out of the plane and looking around with a frown.

"In the Afterworld," Vegeta replied, going towards the tavern. The others followed him. Seiya blinked.

"Afterworld… you mean like Heaven and Hell and that sort of stuff?" he asked, hurrying forward to catch up with the others.

"Exactly," Trunks agreed. "The Hell is down there," he pointed over the edge of the parking lot, "and the Heaven is somewhere over there" he pointed up, "but it's really small and not easy to find."

"And why exactly did we come," Taiki peered at a fairy-like creature with green skin and pointy ears walking by with a huge beer mug, "_here_?"

"Because all taverns are packed with useful information," Haruka commented, elbowing her way through the crowd. "Hey, Setsuna!"

Sailor Pluto and Baba were sitting behind a small table in the corner, playing cards. When Pluto looked up, Baba quickly stuck a card up her sleeve and grinned.

"Didn't expect to see you guys here," Pluto said, raising her brows. "Ah look, the Sailor Star Lights. I guess I've missed a lot since we last met."

"Setsuna, a Dragonball is missing from the planet," Haruka said, getting right to the point. "Can you tell us where to find it?"

Setsuna sighed, raised her hand and the huge key with the Garnet Orb appeared, almost knocking an ogre out. The woman looked at the orb and frowned.

"What Dragonball was it?" she asked.

"Uh…" everyone looked at each other. "Small, orange, kinda glowy… you know."

"How many stars?" Setsuna asked patiently. Everyone looked at each other again.

"Either the one with three stars, four stars or seven stars," Bulma said. "These are the ones we're still missing."

Goku's eyes narrowed. "If some alien scum decided to steal the four-star Dragonball that once belonged to my Grandpa, I swear I'll…"

"Actually it **is** the four-star Dragonball," Pluto interjected. "The other two are still on Earth. The one you're looking for is on Dai Kaio's planet."

"What – there?" Vegeta asked as his eyes widened. "How can anyone come to Earth from there and go back again? This is the Afterworld, for crying out loud!"

Pluto shrugged. "I told you what you wanted to know, let me finish my game now, okay? Baba, put that card back, I may be old but I'm definitely not blind. It was nice seeing you guys again." Baba snorted and put the card back.

Haruka sighed. "Can you at least tell us…" Pluto's eyes narrowed. "Okay, okay. Thanks for the help. Come on, y'all."

"Trunks!" Bulma yelled as they turned around to leave, "you're **not **gonna drink that!"

"I just wanted to taste," Trunks complained, putting a small glass back on a table. The dwarf behind the table glared at him.

"It's purple and bubbly!" Bulma hissed, driving her son out of the tavern.

"Good year in that case," Vegeta grinned. Bulma glared at him.

"It was burning a hole into the table!"

"Let's get going already!" Haruka shouted, starting the plane. Minutes later they were flying above the yellow clouds.

"Someone show me the way, I don't orientate here too well," the girl suggested. Goku concentrated for a moment, then pointed to north-east. "Over there and not too far away."

"It's a good thing that we just tanked the plane," Michiru commented, looking out of the window. "I don't feel like falling down to Hell at the moment."

"It's not such a bad place, you know," Haruka remarked with a grin.

They flew on, possibly for hours but the sun never sets in the Afterworld. Finally Goku noticed a small planet right in front of them and a bit later they landed in front of Dai Kaio's palace. Taiki was stunned.

"It's not possible!" he claimed. "It only took us about three hours before we saw this planet and another hour to land here. We must've covered millions of miles!"

"True, but in the Afterworld time makes no difference," Goku remarked. "There's a little trick that allows anyone to bend the Space and Time here. It takes some practicing though… it's a sad thing I didn't know that back when I had to run the Snake Way through."

"So… where should we look for the Dragonball?" Seiya asked, looking around with a frown.

"Let's see… whoa!" Haruka had opened the holographic map again and it worked, showing the map of Dai Kaio's planet. There was a single blinking spot on the map.

"Easier than expected," Vegeta commented. "Okay Haruka, follow that spot." Haruka grunted, muttered something about bloodhounds and gave gas.

"At least it's not moving any more," Yaten said, looking at the map. "I don't think it will be a lot of trouble."

The Saiyans and Haruka glared at him. "Oh yeah?"

"This here is Dai Kaio's planet," Vegeta said with the voice of a person who's explaining the function of a paperclip for the tenth time. "The place where each and every powerful and mighty hero comes after dying. This place is packed with fighters. Most of them aren't a big deal for me or any other Saiyan but if I were you, I wouldn't go picking on them."

"So you're telling me that after a vicious phoenix, possessed monks and rabid mermaids…" Seiya started.

"This could get even worse," Vegeta agreed.

"And I though that the life of a superstar was dangerous," Yaten muttered. Suddenly they bumped up in the air and fell down again. Haruka had landed the plain and now got up with a wicked grin on her face.

"Don't worry," she said. "I think I can handle it myself."

The Saiyans stared at her when she opened the door and jumped out on the soft grass. Then they all went outside too. In a minute they understood what Haruka had meant.

There was only one person sitting under a single tree in the middle of the plain. His hair was black and spiky, there were scars on his cheek and a brown tail was curled around his waist.

"Hey, Bardock," Haruka shouted. The man opened his eyes and frowned.

"You again? No, I haven't seen anyone lately. No weird auras, nothing. May I have my privacy now?"

"You have the Dragonball," Haruka replied.

Bardock frowned. "And that would be…?"

"Small, orange, glowing a little, has four red stars on it," Goku said, walking up to them. "Hi again, Dad."

"Oh, that little souvenir?" Bardock dug the Dragonball out from somewhere under his armor, not paying much attention to Goku. "Why would you need that? It's just a shiny stone."

"It's not…" Goku started but Vegeta punched him in the ribs.

"Tell him one word about the power of the Dragonballs and you'll regret this for a very long time," he hissed. "We have enough Dragonball hunters running around."

"How did you get it?" Michiru asked, looking down at the man. "You're dead; you can't leave this place, can you?"

"Once every ten years if I've behaved myself," Bardock replied. "Sometimes even more often. I never cause any trouble here, compared with the rest of these airheads." He snorted. "Training and picking fights all the time… we're all dead here for crying out loud, what's the point in beating the crud out of each other? Naw, I'm just planning to sit here and enjoy the rest of eternity."

"So…" Bulma was trying to reconstruct the happenings. "You went down to our Earth, hung around for a while…"

"Three days," Bardock corrected.

"Found the Dragonball, decided to take it along as a souvenir and came back here?" Bulma finished.

"I found it from some dinosaur's stomach," Bardock agreed. "Looked nice and shiny. What, are you telling me that you came here just because of that?"

"Yeah," the others agreed.

"Must be valuable then," Bardock commented.

"Why would you care? You won't need it here," Vegeta said.

"True," Bardock agreed and tossed the Dragonball to him. "Be my guest. You don't happen to have anything nice from the real world I could keep as a memory, or what?"

"Hey, I have something!" Goten galloped to the plane and returned with a book. He gave it to Bardock who glanced at it and raised his brows.

"Geography, 2nd grade?" he asked.

"It tells you a lot about our planet," Goten claimed.

Bulma looked at the kid. "Goten, is that one of your schoolbooks Chichi wanted you to read while we're travelling?"

"He'll need it more than me," Goten claimed. "Memories are important. Besides, I still have a huge pile of books. Hey, want my algebra book as well?"

Bardock's eyes narrowed. "No way!"

"Freeza was pretty strict with his army's maths skills," Vegeta remembered with a grin. "Oh yeah, once we're here, perhaps we should go and see him in the Hell. I still have a few quadratic equations I'd love to remind him."

Seiya stared at him. "You're not seriously thinking of going to the Hell?"

Haruka frowned. "Yeah, don't you think that he got enough the last time we were there?" Now Seiya turned to stare at her.

"Not for the equations," Vegeta claimed.

"It's been what, twenty years? Even more," Goku said. Vegeta glared at him.

"Hey, why don't you spend most of your childhood with some nutty tyrant who's really eager to make you learn how many apples you have when you blast twenty three enemies who were each carrying 56 apples and then we'll see who forgets everything after some lousy twenty years!"

"So what was the answer?" Hotaru suddenly asked. "Not a single apple because a true warrior never leaves a molecule behind after blasting someone?"

"Freeza would've been proud to have you in his army," Bardock commented with a nod.

"That girl would've destroyed him in one day," Vegeta remarked. "Okay, shall we go now? Two more Dragonballs to find and they won't probably be an easy catch either."

"Take care, Bardock," Haruka suggested with a slight smile, heading back to the plane.

"Yeah," the Saiyan agreed with a grin, opening Goten's geography book.

"Okay, so we're going after the sixth Dragonball?" Goku asked after the plane had left the planet. "The problem is that I have no idea where it is so I can take no responsibilities on where I take us back."

"Can't you just take us back to the place where we left the Earth?" Taiki asked. Goku shook his head.

"I can only follow auras and there are no people in the place where we left the Earth. I need to go to a place where there'd be people."

"Pick a random place and let's hope that we'll get lucky," Hotaru suggested. The others glared at her.

"Have you noticed how lucky we have gotten so far?" Seiya asked with a frown. "Hint – not very lucky!"

Hotaru smiled carelessly. "Why? We have managed to find five Dragonballs in less than a week and that's a lot better than most people. How did the story with the Red Ribbon Army go again, Bulma? The whole army spent months, right? And they had the radar."

"And they had Goku trying to find the Dragonballs too," Bulma added with a grin. Goku gave a sheepish smirk.

"I'll just pick a random place and we can always carry on from there," he suggested, concentrating. The others sighed, nodded, held on to their seats… and the plane vanished again.

Haruka was the only one who hadn't closed her eyes – after all, she had a plane to drive. So she saw a field of yellow clouds, a bright flash and at the same moment the deep blue ocean. She managed to keep the plane in balance and then opened the radar.

"Not bad, Goku," she said. "We only have about a hundred miles to cover."

"At the bottom of the ocean again?" Vegeta asked, leaning closer. Haruka looked at the map again and frowned.

"Looks like it." She zoomed in. "Or no, wait… I'm not sure. There may be an island."

Yaten rolled his eyes. "Oh joy. Jungles. Rainforests, tigers and most likely a few dinosaurs, or what?"

Bulma had taken a closer look at the map too and suddenly her eyes widened.

"You know," she said with a grim frown, "I think I would've preferred jungles…"

The others looked up at her. "What's wrong?"

Bulma sighed. "Let's just get going, shall we?"


	28. The city of fears

**Chapter 28 – The city of fears**

The ocean was huge and spread out in every direction. The weather was simply gorgeous and they tried not to look out, the glittering sea was so blinding.

"We're almost there," Haruka commented, looking at the radar. "But I can't see anything," she added with surprise, looking out of the window again.

"The island is very small, it can't be seen easily," Bulma snorted.

"What's so dangerous about it then?" Yaten asked, raising his brows.

Bulma raised her brows too. "Who said it was dangerous? I just don't feel like going there. Look, there it is now."

Everyone leaned forward and tried very hard to see the island. Finally they noticed it as it grew bigger and bigger on the sparkling blue background. The island was indeed tiny, it only had a couple of palm trees growing on it. And in the middle of the island there was a small pink house.

Goku gasped and a wide smile appeared on his face. "Hey, the Dragonball landed **here**? I should've recognized the place earlier! Cool! This time there will be no trouble!"

"Fine, then get inside and deal with that old pervert yourself," Bulma suggested. "I'm not moving."

"Aw come on, Master Roshi isn't that bad," Goku persisted. Bulma rolled her eyes.

"Just go and get that Dragonball," she snorted. Goku shrugged and hopped out of the plane as soon as Haruka had landed it.

"Hey, Master Roshi!" he shouted out. An old man in a deckchair looked up with surprise.

"Goku?" he asked. "You haven't been here for a while."

"Sorry, I've been busy," Goku agreed. "Say, you don't happen to have a Dragonball somewhere around here, huh?"

"Yeah, one landed in the water near the island a year ago," Master Roshi replied. "I thought someone might be coming to get it one day so I went out there and got it, oh boy, who's the pretty lady?" He had noticed Michiru.

"Get my point?" Bulma asked the girl with a frown as Master Roshi slid closer

Haruka's eyes flashed for a second.

SPLAT!

"Ouch… that wall won't be fixed easily," Taiki commented.

Trunks's eyes had widened. "Hey, cool! How did you manage to make him spin around like that?"

"I didn't think a human's neck can bend that way," Vegeta remarked with slight admiration.

"Dung doesn't drown," Haruka replied with a frown. "Now, how about that Dragonball?"

About five minutes later the sixth Dragonball was theirs. Master Roshi had kept it on his table, knowing that one day there'd be someone willing to collect it.

"One more and we'll be able to leave this planet," Haruka commented, starting the plane as Goku and the two brats waved frantically. Master Roshi waved back, though slowly as most of his joints were kinda stiff.

"The last two have been easy," Vegeta remarked. "Let's hope that the seventh one will be as simple."

"If I remember correctly, the seventh one was somewhere in a town by the sea," Haruka replied, opening the map. "And just as I guessed… it's not there any more."

The others gasped. "It's missing again?"

"Naw, just moving." Haruka's eyes narrowed. "It's in the ocean… or perhaps on it. I think it's on a ship."

"Or inside a water dragon?" Seiya asked with a slightly hysterical note in his voice.

"Then it couldn't have been in a town a while ago," Hotaru said thoughtfully.

"Unless it went to the town to destroy it," Goku said, "but that's unlikely to happen. Water dragons are usually harmless creatures."

"So are nightmares," Michiru frowned, "and remember the one we dealt with lately?"

"I think Haruka is right. It might be a ship. Dragons don't spend much time on dry land even if they show up on the shore occasionally." Bulma looked up. "How far is it?"

Haruka snorted and sighed. "Almost on the other side of the planet. That will take several days. And a lot of tanking."

"Well, let's get going in that case," Goku suggested. "The sooner we start flying, the sooner we arrive, right?"

Haruka nodded. "Does anyone feel like taking my place for a while? My arms are killing me."

"Let me." Vegeta stood up and Haruka left the seat for him. "So, five or six days as I understand? We're going to need more food."

There was a city nearby so they decided to land there to buy some food and once again tank the plane. Haruka commented that they had flown millions of miles without filling the gas tank even once. Now they had to fix that mistake – "in order to make the Space-Time continuum work correctly again" as Hotaru said. And they knew that she was right.

"Can we look around in the city a little, huh, huh?" Trunks asked her mother at the gas station. Bulma sighed.

"Uh, why not. We're not in a hurry. Vegeta, keep an eye on him, will you? Goten, keep an eye on your dad, okay?"

"You're kidding, right?" Goku asked with a frown. Vegeta looked at his wife.

"And where are you going?"

"To see a CC branch office," Bulma replied. "I need to check a few things. You," she looked at their guests from planet Earth, "I'd suggest you to stick with either Vegeta or Goku. You have to admit that letting strangers from another planet run around here just like that is never a good idea."

Haruka's eyes narrowed. "You're telling us? Exactly the fact that we were keeping those dudes there from running around just like that on our planet is the reason why we're here. Fine then, let's get going."

The city was big, yet very green. The sky was blue and the weather was great so walking down the street was pure pleasure. Eventually Michiru still decided that she wanted to go shopping a little. They had passed so many small and interesting shops without stepping in that Michiru's elegant soul couldn't handle that any more.

"Remember what Mom said?" Trunks asked with a frown. "You kept an eye on your planet while we were there, I think we owe something to our planet too."

"I'm not a powerful Saiyan, you know," Michiru claimed a bit offendedly.

"Tell that to a race of fish people who are probably building huge statues of you this same moment," Vegeta suggested. "Brats, go with her."

Trunks's eyes widened. "Dad, please! Going shopping with Mom every Saturday is bad enough!"

"I'll go," Goten announced. "I can't go shopping often. We live too far away from the nearest town."

In short, eventually they all split up. Michiru and Goten went shopping, the others went down the street until Haruka noticed a hardware store where she needed some gadgets for the plane – "Bulma will be too busy to deal with it, one thing certain…" –, Seiya said that he needed some guitar strings and Trunks tagged along to prevent the two from ripping each other's guts out. Taiki went to a bookshop followed by Goku and a lot of complaining – "Why me? Why the bookshop? And why not the candy store?". The rest, meaning Vegeta, Hotaru and Yaten just went down the street, caring about nothing. Eventually they came to a park where Vegeta sat down under a tree to take a nap, Yaten decided to do the same thing and Hotaru simply sat on a bench, looking at the people go by.

She was frowning.

Something was wrong…

* * *

"So, I guess we'll need to buy some food too while we're at it, or what?" Goten asked Michiru as they left yet another store. The girl nodded.

"We can't expect the others to deal with it. Will you help me carry the stuff?" Goten nodded too and so they left for the mall.

"Do you think we'll have any trouble with the last Dragonball?" Goten asked Michiru as they were walking between the isles. Michiru shrugged and then slowly shook her head.

"It's in a town. What's the worst thing you could run into in a town?" she asked.

Goten bit his lip. "A huge evil demon trying to destroy that town?" he suggested.

"Too much TV," Michiru smiled.

"Too much fighting," Goten argued. "Look, candy canes!"

"You know, one thing is funny," Michiru commented as they were standing in the line in front of the cash register. Goten muttered something that might as well have been a "yeah?"

"All those people here seem so… scared," Michiru said quietly.

Goten looked up and around. "You think so? I wouldn't say that. Perhaps a little pale, a little suspicious, peering around constantly… but not scared. Nervous would be the word."

"Just as odd," the girl replied. "Why would the whole crowd at the mall seem so… petrified? You're right, they're not scared… they seem like they're having a constant feeling that something ominous is hanging above their heads."

"Let's ask someone," Goten suggested. Michiru held him back.

"You can't just walk up to people and ask what they're afraid of," she hissed. "Don't bother. If it's so epidemical then we may find it out soon enough. Twenty dollars, you say? Here you are and have a nice day."

The girl in the cash register glanced at her. She was extremely pale and rather skinny. Her eyes seemed huge in her face.

"Thank you…" she whispered, then frowned slightly. "You're from out of town, right?"

Michiru nodded.

"Go away," the girl suggested quietly. "While you still can."

* * *

Haruka had noticed the same thing and Seiya, even though not easily agreeing with the girl, had to admit that she was right. Trunks held close to the two. Half-Saiyan or not, two Sailor Soldiers were still a nice ally.

"I really don't like this city," Haruka said quietly. "I'd understand if they were sick. Epidemics are common. But look at them… do they seem ill to you?"

Seiya frowned. "Despite them being pale and kinda thin… doesn't look like any illness I know. Epidemics usually show as ugly spots on the skin or something, right?"

Haruka nodded slowly. Trunks couldn't help astonishing how the two enemies suddenly talked to each other like completely normal human beings.

"The city is huge, some threat from a bunch of invaders or something couldn't possibly scare them like that, or what?" the kid asked. Seiya and Haruka nodded again, both with a concerned frown.

"So what could it be?" Haruka asked.

"We won't find it out while sitting here," Seiya remarked. "I just need to find some guitar strings and then we can get away from this creepy place."

Haruka shuddered. "Too true. I'll go insane when I have to see a whole store full of terrified people for another five minutes. I think I saw some strings back there."

Seiya nodded and trotted away, returning in a minute with a pack of guitar strings. "Let's go."

"Do you actually have money?" Haruka asked with a frown.

"What, you think they'll dare to ask for money?" Seiya asked back.

Haruka glanced at her cart filled with odd little gadgets. "They might as well send the bill to Capsule Corporation."

* * *

"I'm telling you, it's not right. Something is definitely going on in this city," Taiki hissed with his nose in a thick book.

"Perhaps they're just afraid of us?" Goku asked, raising a brow. Now Taiki looked up from the book and glanced at him.

"You're kidding, right?"

"They're all acting like a war was about to start," Goku said, looking around. "I'll go ask someone."

"They won't reply," Taiki predicted. Goku was already in front of a man in his mid-forties.

"S'cuse me… why are all those people so nervous?"

The man gave him a single look and hurried out.

"Told you," Taiki commented, getting back to the book. "People don't like to talk about their fears. To be honest, this is starting to freak me out."

"Are you done here?" Goku asked. "I don't feel like sitting here all day either."

Taiki nodded. "Let's go. We should find the others. Hotaru may be able to say what's going on here."


	29. One city, two faces

**Chapter 29 – One city, two faces**

About half an hour later they all met at the park. Goku and the two kids had tracked Vegeta's aura down and now they were all sitting under a tree. Bulma still hadn't showed up but they didn't expect her to know much about the situation either. Everyone was relying on Hotaru with the question. The girl had already told them that something was definitely wrong in the city but that didn't tell them much.

"Should we ask for help again?" Michiru asked. "Sailor Pluto might know something. Or perhaps Pegasus."

"Just because many people are acting like chickens?" Yaten asked, opening one eye. "They may be afraid of something but that doesn't instantly mean some evil darkness demon. Cool down, will you?"

"I wouldn't worry about people," Haruka said. "Have you noticed that there are no animals in this town? No stray cats or dogs. No pigeons. Heck, I haven't even seen any bugs. This lawn here is the cleanest I've ever seen."

"They probably escaped," Hotaru agreed. "I'd love to know why."

The others glanced at her. "You sure? I'd rather get away from here as soon as possible," Goku said.

"We can't leave without Bulma," Michiru replied. "Does anyone know how long she'll take?"

Now Vegeta opened his eyes too. "Fine, I'll call her. Guess it's important enough…" He took a cell phone from his pocket and dialed a number.

"I had no idea that you had a cell phone," Goku said with surprise.

"I live in a huge city. Sometimes tracking people down by their auras isn't enough. Hey Bulma, how long is it gonna take? Guys here think that we should leave this city as soon as possible. Something isn't right."

"_I noticed,_" Bulma's voice agreed from the phone. "_Everyone is acting like the apocalypse was coming. Seriously, it took me half an hour to convince the secretary to talk to me. Sheesh. Anyway, I think it'll take longer than I expected. These guys here work incredibly slow, peering over their shoulders all the time and all, and things have really gotten out of hands at the branch office. In short, I think we'll have to stay overnight._"

"Not a smart idea," Hotaru commented.

"Got better suggestions?" Yaten asked. Hotaru shrugged.

"We can always leave the city for the night and come back in the morning."

"But maybe we'd be able to help them?" Goku asked. "I mean, the whole city is afraid of something. We could help them get rid of that fear."

"Whatever it is, it must be massive," Haruka warned him. "This isn't just some boogeyman under the bed, you know."

"A massive attack of boogeymen?" Trunks guessed. "'Boogeymen Against People – We Have Been Forced To Stay Under The Beds For Too Long?'"

"Why not?" Taiki asked, looking up. "Childhood fears are the most powerful. Adults fear normal things like illnesses or getting caught by the tax office."

"But childhood fears are easier to fight," Michiru remarked. "Deep down inside every kid knows that those monsters under the bed don't exist, and that's what helps them."

Goten snorted. "Pfft, right. Don't you remember your childhood? Deep down inside everyone knows that the monsters **do** exist and that's what makes the fear so powerful. Why, I remember when I was afraid of the boogeyman in the closet when I was four…"

"It wasn't a boogeyman," Goku interjected. "It was just an alien monster."

The kid nodded. "Yeah, and after I had beaten the daylight out of him, I wasn't afraid of any boogeymen any more."

"Perhaps if we'd make everyone to beat the crud out of their fear, whatever it may be…" Seiya theorized. Vegeta frowned.

"First we need to find out what the fear is. What did the girl at the mall say again?"

"Go away while you still can," Michiru remembered as Goten nodded. "So… we may not have much time?"

"Midnight," Haruka said firmly. "It's always midnight. Let's wait until then. When nothing happens during the night, we'll keep thinking tomorrow."

Vegeta's cell phone rang. "_Hey, where are you guys? Let's settle the camp and call it a day. We can't do much else anyway._"

"Yeah," Vegeta agreed with a frown, "we really can't do much else."

* * *

"It's getting dark," Trunks commented, sitting by the window. The capsule house was standing in the middle of the park. Bulma had been a little worried that camping in the middle of the park would get them in trouble but Haruka had said that all policemen she had seen on the streets were too busy biting their nails.

"Can you sense anything?" Seiya asked Hotaru who shook her head.

"I can only tell that something's not right in this city but we all pretty much got that already, or what?"

"Goten, get over here and check that out," Trunks called. His buddy trotted to the window and sat down on the sill.

"Whatever the reason is, it must be powerful," Bulma said with concern. "What if we are just like them in the morning?"

"I'm not exactly saying that I'm not afraid of anything," Vegeta remarked, "but I can say without a single doubt that nothing in the world would make me peer around constantly and looking like I was about to wet myself."

"Yeah, these are just normal people on the streets," Goku agreed. "I mean, we're powerful Saiyans. And other types of superheroes," he added, glancing at the Sailor Soldiers. "What I don't understand is… why don't the people leave?"

"Perhaps they're afraid to?" Trunks guessed. "Wow, those houses look cool!"

"Yeah, all wriggly and stuff… just like… oh crud." Goten closed his mouth and looked back at the others. "You better come and see this."

Everyone galloped to the window and looked out. The sun was still setting and the park was filled with soft orange light. The buildings in the distance were already packed in darkness and they seemed different: completely black, somehow like stretched out and they looked like they were moving a little. And the darkness that surrounded them wasn't black. It was dark green.

"Hotaru, you said that you weren't sensing anything!" Bulma practically yelled. Hotaru's eyes had widened.

"I'm not. It's not the demon. Without a single doubt."

Sunlight was backing away and green darkness slid closer. They could clearly see the nearer houses turn black and start waving silently. There wasn't a clear line between darkness and light but darkness was obviously taking over.

"Let's get outside," Haruka suddenly said. "We may not be able to open the door once the city has deformed, remember?"

Vegeta rocketed to the door and pushed it open. It screeched and tried to remain closed but the Saiyan prince didn't see things that way. He leaped outside and the others followed him. The door slammed shut after Trunks and turned black. The whole house was black too and its surface was melting. The grass was dark and squishy. It had no specific color.

"Mm-kay, so it looks like we won't be able to get any sleep tonight," Seiya commented.

"Crud," Yaten remarked.

"It's not midnight yet, right?" Michiru asked Haruka who shook her head.

"So, what should we do until then?" Bulma asked, peering around. "We can't go inside and venturing out there in that deformed city doesn't sound like a nice idea either."

"Got any third options in that case?" Vegeta asked. "I'm not staying here. Is anyone coming with me?" He started off towards the city.

"Sure thing," the two brats agreed and so the others followed them as well.

The sun was now nothing but some red haze above the horizon and darkness had taken over. The streets were empty – no screaming people this time. Or actually, there was screaming but it came from the houses. Most windows were open.

"When do those people sleep?" Taiki asked with surprise. "No wonder they seem so pale and distressed."

"Perhaps we should…" Hotaru couldn't even finish her sentence before Goku floated up in the air and stopped in front of a window.

"Excuse me… hello, is there a problem?" he asked with a friendly smile. Hotaru blinked.

"Knock on someone's door and ask what's wrong," she said grimly. Other Saiyans floated up too. Haruka grabbed Vegeta's boot and as the prince heaved her up with a grunt, looked inside as well.

"Cool," she said, raising her brows. Yaten jumped on the windowsill – being one of the Sailor Star Lights, he was a good jumper and the window was on the second floor. He looked inside and blinked.

There was a family – a mother, a father and two little kids – in one corner of the room. They were petrified, and a bunch of people floating behind the window didn't make them feel much better either. But the main reason of their fear was standing in the middle of the room. It was huge, hairy and dark brown, with massive paws and small yellow eyes.

"Uh, roar," he said at the moment. "Boo. Other scary sayings." He checked a small piece of paper it was holding in one paw. "Scary movements with paws…" he waved his paws a little and the kids started screaming again, "yeah, that has to be it. Boo again."

Goku floated inside, landed next to the creature and poked its shoulder. The being turned around.

"Yeah? Make it quick, I'm trying to work in here."

"Hi." Goku smiled widely. "Are you a boogeyman?"

"Yep," the creature agreed. "Legally. Here's my ID." He stuck a small card under Goku's nose. "Sorry, I'm kinda busy at the moment, okay? I'm still a rookie so I need to concentrate a little."

"Now I've seen everything," Yaten remarked. The other two of the Three Lights landed next to him, completely stuffing the small windowsill and stared at the scene.

"I think you're doing just fine here," Goku remarked, looking at he family. The creature grinned widely and sheepishly.

"Just trying to give my best… hey, if you want to talk to my, I have a lunch break at 11. Until then… lemme get back to what I'm paid for, 'kay?"

"Sure thing, can we meet anywhere then?" Goku asked. The boogeyman pondered for a second and then said:

"The Little Sunshine café, they have great food there, that's where I usually eat, okay?" Goku nodded. "Nice. Oookay then. Erm, boo. Boo. BOOO!" The children screeched and hid behind their parents who were actually trying to hide behind the kids at that same moment. "Hey, I'm getting better at this!"

"Now that's just… plain weird," Hotaru said as Goten had carried her up too to show her the scene. "And as a matter of fact, it's not even scary."

"You know, as the Sailor Soldier of Death you should avoid generalizing," Haruka commented. "Even though I agree with you for this matter. That boogeyman seemed like a nice guy."

"Looks like all families have their own boogeymen saying "roar" to them," Goku reported, landing next to them on the pavement. "Okay, so some are big spiders with twelve feet and some are vampires and such… but they are all doing pretty much the same thing."

"Working, you mean," Seiya said. "They're all working. And it even makes sense. Boogeymen are supposed to scare people… that's their job, you know. Even if you wouldn't expect them to be so… organized."

"I don't think we'll find out anything before 11 p.m.," Michiru said with a slight frown. "What time is it?"

"A little after ten," Hotaru replied. "Let's just…" she hesitated, "go for a walk or something?"

"In that crazy twisted city?" Bulma shivered.

"What's the worst that could happen?" Vegeta asked. "The streets are empty. Unless a boogeyman gets fired, jumps out of the window in frustration and lands on your head, there isn't much to fear here."

Goku chuckled. "That was funny."

"No," Vegeta frowned, "merely an observation." He pointed at a furry creature that was bouncing off the pavement at that moment a couple of hundred feet away. "The organization they're working for seems to be pretty strict." The furry being got up and waddled away. "No big wonder. People aren't afraid of boogeymen like they used to."

"Amen to that, buddy," a huge black creature remarked, plodding past them and disappearing into one of the houses.

"Dad, were you really afraid of boogeymen too when you were little?" Trunks asked with a wide grin. Vegeta snorted.

"No. I grew up in Freeza's army, remember? All sane boogeymen kept well away and all insane ones became guinea pigs in the laboratories. One way or another, they didn't last."

Seiya looked around. "So… does anyone know where that café actually is?"

It was 11:10 when they finally found the café, mainly thanks to Goku's constant asking for directions. ("Hey you… oh, it's not your head… oh, it is? Anyway, where's the Little Sunshine café? Okay, thanks." And ten minutes later: "Hello… oh, nice fangs… can you tell me where the Little Sunshine café is? Okay, thanks.") The place was a small cozy open-air café – at least in daytime. Now the walls were black and the parasols were made of something that looked like shrouds. The café was crowded and most of the visitors were extremely furry.

"This place is actually… pretty nice," Taiki remarked, raising his brows.

"Compared with that tavern in the Afterworld, not bad at all," Haruka agreed. "Then again, I think that they all belong to the same chain."

"Hey, there he is! Dude! Remember me?" Goku had already elbowed his way to a small table where the brown boogeyman sat, eating a burger.

"Sure I do," he replied with a grin and moved aside, making Goku some room to sit down. "You're not local, huh? You don't seem to be afraid of us."

"Naw, we're not local. We just wanted to ask…" Goku couldn't finish as Trunks interrupted, staring at the burger:

"Is it human flesh?"

The boogeyman frowned. "No, I'm a vegetarian. You wanted to ask what?"

"There goes my poor innocent view of life… again," Trunks snorted as Goku looked around, trying to form his question into a sentence and finally asked: "What exactly is going on in here?"

"Well, it's a bit hard to explain to outsiders," the boogeyman said, "but generally it's just some good old-fashioned haunting. You see, the humans have jobs and we have jobs. Their jobs are working at the malls, cafés, hospitals, schools, you get the point. Our job is to haunt them at night. A fair deal. That's how it has always been. Name's Bob, bytheway," he added with a wide grin, showing two rows of long yellow fangs and leaning forward to shake Goku's hand.

"Nice to meet you." Goku's smile was completely sincere, the others just stared. "Hey, that burger looks great. I could use one too."

"We just ate!" Michiru snapped. The Saiyan was already waving frantically. "Waiter! Hey waiter!"

"They don't work at night," Bob commented as a man stepped closer. He was a human, the only one in the whole city who wasn't pale and frightened. He was about fifty years old and he had a wide brown friendly face.

"Yeah, they're all petrified," he agreed. "In daytime I have plenty of workers here but at night I need to work alone. A shame, actually. So, what can I get you and as I see, none of you is frightened, would anyone perhaps be interested in a nightjob?"

"We're not planning to stay for long," Hotaru replied as Goku glanced at the food other customers were eating. "Do you have a mega cheeseburger with extra meat?" he eventually asked.

"Coming right up," the owner of the café agreed and hurried off.

"Tell us, Bob…" Haruka sat down too. "Boogeymen and monsters and such have always existed but why is this city here the only one I've seen where the people are constantly afraid? How come there are so many of you and why aren't you hiding under the beds as usually?"

"Well, that's temporary." Bob swallowed the last piece of his burger. "Right now all monsters from the whole planet have gathered here in this city. Just until the boss gets everything back in order, you know. Shouldn't take more than another couple of weeks."

"The boss?" Seiya blinked and looked at the boogeyman. "Who's your boss then?"

"Never seen him," Bob replied cheerfully. "He's the big cheese, y'know. We get our contracts from the smaller offices that work for the offices that work for him."

Vegeta looked around and his eyes narrowed. "Where does that boss live?"

"Not here, that's for sure," the boogeyman said and stood up. "He shows up once in a while though. Look, I'm just a little worker, if you want to know more, you need to higher, y'know what I mean? I need to go back to work now but if you want to know more, you might as well try going to some of the offices and try getting an appointment."

"That's exactly what we're going to do," Hotaru stated with her eyes narrowing too. "So, could you lead us to one of those offices?"


	30. Bulma in action

**Chapter 30 – Bulma in action**

"They put the Monster Employing Office in a _school_?" Bulma asked, gazing at the huge building in front of them.

"Makes sense to me," Goten remarked. "Most schools have plenty of rooms that are never used, never opened and most people wonder what could be inside."

Haruka nodded. "Wouldn't be the first school in the Universe that is used for evil purposes."

"Hey, we're all legal hard-working citizens here!" a six-legged monster shouted, trotting by and disappearing into the schoolhouse.

"Oh… kay, let's go then," Goku called and went up the staircase. Trunks held him back.

"Remember," he said very seriously, "it's a school. Evil lurks in these hallways."

Goku seemed nervous and opened the door. "I'll keep that in mind… oh, hello." The secretary was looking at them strictly.

"We would like to see the chief of this office," Vegeta said, seeing as Goku didn't feel like talking at the moment and preferred peering around nervously. Now the secretary looked at him. She was old, had reddish white hair and very light eyes, wore a black strict dress with a white collar and had an odd-looking scar on her neck.

"Do you have an appointment?" she asked. Her teeth were surprisingly white for her age.

Vegeta grinned and leaned closer. "Yes. Right here." He reached out his fist and opened it under the secretary's nose. There was a small piece of garlic in it.

"Eeeeeek!" The vampire backed away quickly. "Up the stairs, the very last floor, last door to the right, please knock or I'll be vanquished!"

Vegeta's grin got wider. "Thank you." He went up the stairs and the others trotted after him.

"Where did you get that?" Bulma demanded as they climbed up.

"Took it from the kitchen right before we left the house," the prince replied. "Sometimes you just have to," he poked his forehead, "use this thing here. Last floor, here we are."

"Not quite," Taiki replied, pointing up. As they all looked up, they saw another floor above the one they were standing on. But the staircase ended right in front of their noses.

"Must be a magically appearing floor," Haruka commented, leaping up – being a Sailor Soldier really paid off in the oddest places. "You wouldn't expect the boss of the monsters to sit in the janitor's closet, or what?"

The others jumped up too. Vegeta went to the last door to the right and knocked – surprisingly politely.

"What?" a voice grumbled inside. "I don't remember having any appointments today!"

"Now you have one," Vegeta replied, pushing the door open.

The cabinet was big and had a huge window with an excellent view – if you like a view on a black deformed city, that is. The place was brightly lit, had a thick blue Persian carpet, several closets made of mahogany and a huge table with a laptop and a fax machine on it. The chief was huge, dark grey and hairy with tiny eyes and long white fangs but he was wearing a very well sewn suit. He was on the cell phone at the moment.

"Sell, I told you!" he roared. "You're bankrupting the whole company if you keep that spirit up! What do you expect me to tell our colleagues in the Capsule Corporation? Idiot! We've had enough trouble with the pathetic airheads that work in the daily shift, you know! I just heard that the daughter of the owner himself was in the city today and what did those boneheads do? They couldn't even find their annual report! From last year! I tell you, another one of those brainless mistakes and I swear someone's guts will flow down the wall!"

"Hey, now that's the kind of management I look for in an office," Bulma commented with a grin as the monster put the phone away and stared at the intruders.

"Who are you and whadda you want?" he demanded grimly. "I'm a busy man."

Bulma stepped forward. Now was her turn to shine. "I'm Bulma Briefs," she said, "and I would like to have a few words with the chief of this office. That would be you, I suppose?"

The monster blinked. "Mrs. Briefs? Why, what a pleasant surprise! Have a seat!" He almost pushed Bulma into a huge comfortable armchair. "Coffee?"

"No thanks." Bulma looked at the monster resolutely. "I come to audit perhaps once in a lifetime and I don't even get a decent staircase? Not exactly the attitude I'd expect from such a respectful company."

The monster was sweating and looked like he was about to have a nervous breakdown. "Uh… there are so many intruders these days, we really didn't expect to see you, so sudden… yet such a pleasant surprise… please, why are you standing, have a seat." The others glanced at each other and sat down on the couches and armchairs. "We've been so busy lately, I'm afraid I really didn't prepare for this…"

"Zip it," Bulma suggested and the monster shut up quickly. "First of all, I hadn't even heard of a branch office called Monster Employment Agency till today. Could you _please_," that "please" was as cold as an iceberg, "explain that to me?"

"Well, you see," the monster sat down again, peering at her nervously, "monster agencies aren't allowed to be very public as you surely understand and we only recently joined due to recent happenings… I'm afraid I can't give you much information about it though, I haven't been informed much either."

"So you're not the big cheese around here," Bulma said. She was surprised to hear that and the sentence was a question but her cold blue eyes, slow talking and my-dad-will-hear-about-it voice made it sound like a dry statement that promised trouble for someone. The monster's upcoming nervous breakdown got worse.

"She's good!" Yaten whispered to Trunks.

"Yeah, good at showing off and bluffing," the kid whispered back, "but that's all we need here, don't we?"

"Oh no, I'm just a little cog in this big machine," the chief quickly replied. "If you want thorough information about the office's whole management, I'll be more than happy to let the boss know about your presence and I'm sure he'll be very glad to meet you."

"That guy would do anything just to get rid of Bulma," Seiya whispered to Haruka who grinned. The monster was already on the phone and shouted:

"What do you mean "he's busy"? Bulma Briefs is here and wants to meet him, he can't possibly be busy! What is he, dead? That's not an excuse! Let him know, now!" A short pause. "Why am I surrounded by idiots? The door isn't unbreakable, get in there and tell him!" Another short pause. "Finally! Yeah, I'll send her over right away. Moron. Next time think a little faster! How are we supposed to make a good impression here, huh? Okay, stop whining and get back to work, we've gotten enough complaints already." He hung up and turned to Bulma. "Mrs. Briefs, the boss will gladly meet you. The address is 235 Summer Lane, the reception will guide you to the chief."

"Nice work," Bulma nodded with a vague smile and the monster tried hard to hide a proud grin. "Let's go, guys."

"Almost midnight," Seiya commented as they went down the street, followed by occasional screaming.

"The night is still young and I want to get to the bottom of this," Vegeta replied. "Bulma, what the heck do the monsters want from the CC?"

Bulma shrugged. "Beats me. I can always ask someone at the office though."

"Don't," Seiya warned her. "As soon as you start sounding ignorant, they lose the respect and then you'll turn into the spoiled brat who has nothing to do with real business."

"Surprisingly, he's got a point," Yaten agreed. "You're good at bluffing, keep it up."

The bell tolled midnight in the distance. Nothing seemed to happen but Hotaru blinked and stopped. Then she hurried after the others.

"I want to know two things," she said. "Why the city looks exactly like in that demon's creation and why all the monsters from the planet have gathered here."

"To answer that question, we need to see the big cheese and I think we're getting closer to him," Haruka replied, looking at the building where the monster had led them. It was a hospital but right now a huge sign had appeared above the front door. It read: "MONSTER EMPLOYMENT AGENCY"

"What's the big difference between an office and an agency?" Trunks asked.

"Seeing as we're dealing with monsters here, I think agency sounds fancier," Michiru replied. "I'm pretty sure that they're merely copying the human world because right now they have to."

"And I'm planning to find out why," Bulma stated, pushing the door open. "I'm Bulma Briefs, I have an appointment."

"Funny how everyone gets so nervous and runs around in panic when you show up," Haruka commented as they went up the stairs.

Bulma grinned. "The advantages of being the future owner of the planet's biggest industrial enterprise. Okay people, showtime." She knocked on the door that read "MANAGEMENT" and stormed in without waiting for a reply.

"Are you the boss here?" she demanded from the monster sitting behind the table. The cabinet looked similar to the one they had been to before, only bigger and fancier; the monster also looked similar, only the suit was more expensive and the monster himself twice as nervous. After hearing the usually babble about unexpected visits and bad workers, the woman laconically asked if the monster was responsible for everything that was going on in the city.

"Uh, no," the boogeyman replied timidly, "as a matter of fact, I don't know much about the matter that interests you but if you need to know thorough information…"

He didn't get further. Bulma exploded. About sixty per cent of it was acting – Bulma had gotten really used to her role as a die-hard angry nightmare of the business world – but the rest was pure rage. Everyone tried not to get on her way as she stormed around in the cabinet. Only Vegeta and Trunks who were already used to her temper sat there without raising a brow and listened to what she had to say. And she had a lot to say.

"I can **not** believe it! What is this, Moronville? A human child would do a better job in this office than you hairballs! Has everyone I've been forced to talk to today forgot to wash their ears or something? I tell them loud and clear that I want to talk to the person responsible for this whole business and **what** do they tell me? That's right – they send me to another idiot who blabs something about not having enough information and so on! What are you getting your salary for?" Now the acting totally disappeared and the owner of the planet's biggest enterprise stood in the middle of the cabinet, flaming in righteous fury. "No wonder the company isn't doing so well when the supposed "bosses" are nothing but a bunch of fleabags with popcorn instead of their brains, and…"

"Bulma," Vegeta interrupted calmly, "we don't have all night."

The woman snorted. "Fine. I'll ask you the very last time and listen carefully." Her eyes nailed the monster into the armchair. "If I wanted to talk to the boss of Capsule Corporation, I'd go to Mr. Briefs, my father, right?" The monster nodded with fear. "Nice. Now, if I wanted to talk to the boss of the Monster Employment Agency, who would I go to?"

"Happy Fun Park, the concert hall," the monster replied very quietly and practically sunk into the armchair.

"Finally," Bulma snorted and stamped towards the door. The others got up but Haruka said:

"He still has something to say. Right?" She glanced at the monster that caught himself thinking that actually Bulma's flaming rage was nothing compared to that girl's navy blue eyes that seemed to see right through him and read his very deepest secrets, from his lunch that day to the name of his teddybear.

"Restricted," he muttered very quietly, "not allowed… for anyone…"

"In that case he shouldn't even be the boss," Bulma snapped. "Seriously, this place needs some adjustment in managing… and also in management," she added with a frown and went out.

"Did you have to go so hard on the poor guy?" Trunks asked his mother as they all went towards the Happy Fun Park which didn't actually seem so happy at the moment.

"Bureaucracy, my dear," the woman replied. "If I hadn't exploded like that, he would've just sent me to another suited airhead… and another and another. Bulma Briefs or not, nobody wants to be the responsible one. We would've circled the whole city like that and I can bet the CC's stocks that these monsters and agencies disappear with sunrise."

"There's the park," Yaten said with a yawn. "And that's supposedly the concert hall." He pointed at a small building with a round roof by the pond. The pond's water was dark green and the hall looked like every other building in the city.

"I wonder if anyone called him?" Michiru asked as they stopped in front of the black door.

"Now we will," Vegeta said. "Knock knock." He slammed his fist into the door.

It didn't move. Not very surprisingly – but a face appeared into the melting surface of the door. It stretched its mouth open and announced:

"This door is protected by magic and can not be entered."

"Magic, huh?" Vegeta turned around. "That's your line, girls."

Uranus, Neptune and Saturn had already transformed. The Sailor Star Lights were about to finish.

"Let's see then," Sailor Saturn said, raising her Glaive. Uranus and Neptune grabbed their talismans and the Star Lights were each holding a shining star in their hands. "Okay girls, let's get inside."

The Glaive stabbed the door, a second later Aqua Mirror's blue energy and Space Sword's red blade joined it. The door bent… and as the three bright stars slammed into it too, it screeched, fell open and disappeared. Saturn was the first one to enter and the others followed her quickly.

"Whoa," was the only thing they could say.


	31. Farewell, city of fears

**Chapter 31 – Farewell, city of fears**

_Author's Note: oopsie. It's been about a month since I last wrote a chapter to this story, or what? Here's the moral: always finish the story before you start uploading. Hrmph. I was on vacation, then I didn't have the boredom to write, then I completely forgot about it and then I didn't feel like writing at all because I didn't get any reviews. (prods Suuki and Aldrea) Atleast I can still count on j00 guys, huh? o.0 Ahwell, I'll just finish that fic in the near future and then print it out for the next generations. Everyone knows that DBZ/Sailormoon fics only get attention when some romance stuff ish involved (grim frown)_ _Okay then, this chapter here only involves some abandoned houses and stupid burglars but atleast it's twice as long as my other chapters. Take that as a compensation. (And yush, actually I just fell into another one of my inspiration zones again. This story hasn't had enough Super Saiyan stuff anyway.) Uh... enjoy. >.>;_

All deformed buildings in the city were black and melting all over, inside and outside. But not the concert hall. Outside it had really looked like any other house in the city but inside was a whole different world.

It was huge, reaching to the horizon and having a colorful sky with random clouds floating above it. It was hard to say what the ground was covered with: it looked like it was changing all the time – green grass in one moment, crystal clear water in the other. Trees in one moment, huge bluish semi-transparent crystals in the other. There had been a concert hall outside but inside was a whole different world, much bigger than the hall itself could ever have been. And everything was so stunningly bright…

"If I didn't know what the Heaven looked like, I'd say that this is the Heaven," Goku commented, raising a brow. "If you ask me, the boss of all boogeymen can't possibly live here, or what?"

"Dunno, sure doesn't look freaky… if you count the odd landscape out," Trunks agreed. "Look at those crystals." He poked one and it gave a silent tune. "Perhaps the boss got tired of dark closets and lurking under the beds and decided to go living somewhere nicer?"

"If spooks are powerful enough to create such a world, I think I'll rather sleep the rest of my life with the lights on," Star Healer said with a frown. "So, we're here… where's the boss then?"

"Finding him may take some time," Uranus agreed, looking around. "Then again, we're still trespassers and I'm surprised nobody has stormed here to kick the stuffing out of us yet." She looked up at the bright sky and noted that the sky only seemed bright – actually it kept changing all the time, just like the whole landscape. "Hello!" she called out then.

Something flashed in the distance, in the light sky – no wait, the sky had to be dark at the second because the flash was white. Or was it dark? Nothing seemed to be solid or certain in that world. Then they heard the echo of a distant sound. A high-pitched call, perhaps a squeal, a neigh or a jingle, it was hard to say.

"I know that sound…!" Neptune muttered. She glanced at Uranus who nodded slowly and looked at the approaching figure. It had four legs… and two wings.

"I thought I've made it very clear that this door must never be opened and… oh, it's you." Pegasus landed in front of them. "Should've guessed. My everlasting plague."

"We're glad to see you too," Uranus agreed cynically, turning back into Haruka as there obviously was no threat. "Does this mean that you're the big boss of all those monsters out there?"

Pegasus nodded. "What did you expect? Boogeymen and other monsters of the night have always belonged to the world of nightmares, thus under my reign. I have to admit, they're not much trouble though, seeing as they created those offices and stuff by themselves. Thanks to that, I have more time to deal with all the temporary problems here."

"Waaaitaminute, if you're the big cheese here then you were also the one who sent those creatures into this single city, right?" Hotaru asked. Pegasus nodded.

"Why?" the girl demanded.

Pegasus glared back at her. "Because one of us here, no names mentioned, decided to destroy the world of nightmares and I had to put its inhabitants somewhere, right? Usually they lurk around in the nightmare world, visiting humans when they feel like it. Currently they don't have a world to lurk in, so I'm forced to store them here," he nodded at the door. "That's why they had to start working all night long, hence the offices and hierarchy. I'm surprised that the humans still haven't gotten used to their presence yet but to be honest, that's already their problem."

"Looks like running around in that city didn't have much point then," Seiya remarked with a frown.

"Well, still better than you beating up some poor innocent boogeyman who would've surely showed up behind your door as soon as darkness fell," Pegasus replied. "Listen, the door to the human world opened at midnight and will close again at 1 AM. Before that you'll have to leave, or you'll be stuck in Elysion."

"One question," Hotaru suddenly said. "Why does the city look exactly like it looked like when that darkness demon changed the Western Capital?"

Pegasus, who had already turned around, looked back with his ears twitching. "You destroyed the demon and the nightmare world but the demon's powers were left behind, floating in Space and Time as pure energy. After all, if the demon had taken its power with it, that old monk who's currently keeping an eye on it wouldn't have had a chance against it. Those powers belonged to Elysion and so I took them back, putting them into this city like the rest of the world's remains."

"So how come all those boogeymen and stuff weren't destroyed along with the nightmare world?" Taiki wondered.

Vegeta snorted. "You have obviously never tried taking over a world. In order to completely rule a world, you have to get rid of every possible source of resistance. You'll have to destroy everyone, turn them into slaves or drive them away. Or team up with them, but no serious conqueror would do that as all allies are unreliable. That demon there… hrm, slaves, I assume?" he asked, glancing at Pegasus. The winged unicorn nodded.

"Remember how I told you about a city that was suffering from a nightmare attack back when the demon gathered energy to return; right after Sailor Pluto had banished it? The demon used the boogeymen to drain energy and then sent them all into this world after it was done. They had been wandering around this same city for a while before I caught them and organized things around here a little. Then they went on by themselves."

"Smart demon," the Saiyan prince commented with a grin. "Though not that smart as destroying would've been far more effective. Banishing always leaves the threat that one day the creatures will return with a war."

"You've done some serious thinking with that, huh?" Bulma asked, frowning at her husband. Vegeta smirked.

"You know, plotting world destruction was as normal for a young Saiyan prince as playing soccer for an Earth kid. To sum the whole thing up, we can just go back to the house now, have some sleep and continue with the Dragonball hunt in the morning… or does anyone disagree?"

"I don't think we can get inside," Haruka said with a yawn, now suddenly noticing that it was getting awfully late. "But I really need some sleep or you won't have a driver in the morning."

Pegasus, turning around again, looked back. "Go to Summerstar Street 234b. They won't be glad to see you there but I'm sure that you guys will be able to convince them. You've proved to be quite creative over those last days… get out of here now, the door won't stay open for long."

"So, we can trust you with the city? You promise to get everything back in order?" Hotaru demanded for the last time before stepping out. The unicorn nodded.

"It's my job and even if it takes a little time, I will finish it, no matter what. Don't worry. Everything will be okay. Remember the address? Nice. Now, get lost."

"Wait!" Bulma suddenly shouted just when Pegasus had spread out his wings and the bell was tolling 1 AM in the distance. "One final question. What does the whole thing have to do with the Capsule Corporation?"

Now Pegasus grinned. The door slid shut but the woman could still hear his last two words:

"Office equipment."

* * *

It was almost half past one when they got to Summerstar Street and found the house. It was small, had three floors and a nice garden – a little black and melting at the moment but still nice. The sign above the door was new and temporary as expected.

""MONSTER INN"," Goten read out loud. "Well, that's new."

"The city is huge," Taiki guessed with a wide yawn. After getting to the bottom of the secrets of that city, the tension had disappeared and they were all sleepy. "Everyone knows that sunshine destroys the boogeys. If I lived in the other corner of the city and needed a place to stay within the next five minutes…"

"You'd come here," Goku agreed. "Let's go then. Bulma, I suppose you can get us a few rooms here too, eh?"

Bulma laughed, stepped in and turned to the young girl behind the counter with a very friendly, typical I'm-important-and-you're-not smile. "Hello, my name's Bulma Briefs. I'd like to have a few rooms." She looked back at the others. "About three or four, if you have any."

The girl, obviously a vampire too, gasped, her knees began to shake and about a minute later the whole third floor was theirs.

"That whole business is a little mean," Goku complained when they went upstairs. "You scare the heck out of them and they're forced to give you everything you want, with a cherry on top just because their bosses would eat them alive if they didn't help you in any way possible."

"Kakarot, you're a softie," Vegeta remarked with a frown. "Then again, what else is new?"

"It's only for tonight," Bulma claimed. "Besides, I didn't force them to give us that floor."

"Yeah you did," his son commented, knowing Bulma well enough. "With your presence."

Michiru frowned slightly. "Even if it is only for tonight, you should take the extra keys back. What if some boogeymen burn and disappear with sunrise only because you have the keys to some completely empty rooms?"

Bulma sighed, nodded and took the keys back. They divided themselves into three rooms and curled up in the beds, sofas and armchairs without even undressing. The night had been long and full of surprises.

* * *

Vegeta opened his eyes; he usually needed less sleep than the others. The Saiyan prince snorted, yawned widely and sat up. Then he blinked.

The room had been big and elegant when they entered it. The third floor was obviously the most sophisticated, the closets and tables were made of dark oak, the beds and sofas were huge and soft, the general impression was very good, even if a bit old-fashioned. He and Bulma had claimed the big bed ("Hey, I'm the one who got us here, I deserve a bed!"-"And I'm very willing to beat the daylight out of anyone who dares to send me on a sofa!") and Goku along with the two kids who shared the room with them had taken the sofa and the two armchairs. The furniture had been awesome… but not any more.

Vegeta silently poked a spring that was sticking out of the dusty brown mattress. It was real, all right, and so was the bumpy mattress. The pillow that had been so clean and soft at night was now small, yellow and just as bumpy as the mattress.

The prince floated in the air and landed on the carpet – thin and full of holes as he noticed. The sun had risen and all the lies of the night had disappeared. The house was very old and obviously abandoned. The closet had only one door which was hanging on a single hinge. The table was about to fall apart and the windows were boarded up. A small mouse was watching Vegeta from a hole in the corner.

"Get up, Kakarot," Vegeta poked the Saiyan on the sofa. Goku's eyelid twitched, he opened his eyes, focused them on Vegeta, then looked at the rest of the room, glanced at Vegeta again and sat up. The sofa screeched and fell apart.

"I'm hungry," Goku announced with a yawn, rubbing his thigh that had been bruised by a spring that had poked out of the sofa as soon as it fell apart.

"So am I," Vegeta agreed. "Don't think an abandoned house has a kitchen though."

The word "kitchen" instantly woke the two kids up. After admiring the new room for a short while, they started poking Bulma with a rusty spring. Vegeta went to the window and pulled two boards off to look outside. The streets were full of people now – restless, pale, frightened and nervous.

"We obviously had the best sleep in this city," Goten remarked. "Coming, coming." There had been knocking on the old door and the kid went over to open it. It was Haruka.

"I'm glad to see that your bed doesn't look better," she remarked grimly. "I think we should grab some breakfast in a café or something and then go after the seventh Dragonball. I'm sick of this city."

"Ouch! Why I oughtta… morning, Haruka. We have enough food back at the capsule house," Bulma said, glaring sleepily at her son. She got out of the bed and looked around. "Ugh… actually I even expected something like that but I never thought it would look so ugly…!"

"If you expected to see an abandoned house in the morning, why didn't you expect to see something ugly?" Haruka asked back. The woman snorted, got up and stretched her back.

"Are the others awake?" she asked.

"Michiru and Hotaru are, don't know about the Three Lights," Haruka replied.

"Well, someone go and wake them up, we should really get going. This place is awful!" Bulma complained, sneaking past a hole in the floor to the window. Haruka's eyes widened and she looked at the two kids who had already turned to leave the room.

"Oh come on… please let me do this?" she asked. "This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!"

"Exactly," Trunks replied. "Aren't you too old for these things already?"

Haruka laughed. "Never." She left the room, stopped behind the door that led to the Three Lights' room and kicked it. The rotten door fell apart instantly.

"Rise and shine, everybody!" Trunks, who still wouldn't have missed that chance for the world, shouted. "It's a beautiful day!"

"Yeah, it's already about six AM and we're gonna have a busy day!" Goten added.

"You two are good at this," Haruka admitted with a grin, leaning against the doorjamb. "And they're right, guys, get up and get ready, we have a lovely day of Dragonball hunting before us. Complete with monsters, yetis, dragons and six-eyed cheese cakes, this planet apparently has everything and we wouldn't miss it for the world, now would we?"

"I was already hoping that it would be a nightmare…" Seiya moaned, trying to curl up under the tiny pillow.

"You're mean," Michiru commented to Haruka with a smile, passing the doorway. "Good morning, guys. Does this hotel have breakfast?"

"It doesn't even have decent beds, whadda you expect?" Goten replied. "Mom says that we have enough food back at the capsule house and we'll go there as soon as everyone's awake."

"Well, due to the local wake-up service here everyone **is** awake so we might as well get going," Yaten remarked, getting up. "Argh… my back! I thought I'd never see a worse bed than the one back at the recording studio in Tokyo."

"That wasn't a bed," Taiki replied, getting up too. "That was an ancient armchair."

"Above that, a small one," Yaten agreed. "Okay then. Get your lazy butt out of that bed, Seiya. I'm hungry and some bacon would really hit the spot."

"Does anyone actually know where the park is?" Vegeta asked as they left the old house or actually broke out of it as the door was boarded up. Some people passing by stared at them and then hurried away as fast as possible.

"We crossed the city so many times last night that I personally have no idea where we are right now," Goku agreed. "But my stomach says that way," he pointed towards the sunrise.

"Well, I don't trust your stomach," Vegeta remarked as they started down the pavement. "I wouldn't be surprised if we ended up in a harbour or something."

"This city doesn't have a harbour," Bulma reminded him. The prince snorted.

"Exactly. Kakarot, what the heck are you doing now?"

"Just… seeing if it's fresh," Goku justified when Haruka dragged him away from an open-air café where the Saiyan had tried to steal a hamburger from a kid. "You know, you can never trust the beef these days and children are our future…"

"And you will soon be distant past if you keep that attitude," Haruka warned him with a frown. "I know that store… didn't you get your guitar strings here, Seiya?"

Seiya nodded. "Down that alley in that case and straight forward."

"See? My stomach was right," Goku commented. "Whenever there's apple pie in the fridge, I can feel its presence from three miles away."

"You mean the pie I ate just before we left the house?" Trunks asked, raising a brow.

Goku stared at him. "I wanted to eat that!"

"Well, I got there first," the kid claimed, hiding behind Vegeta's foot, just in case.

"Another word about apple pies and I'll beat you both up," the Saiyan prince predicted with a very grim frown. They went on silently for a while. When Vegeta was hungry, he was grumpy and when Vegeta was grumpy, getting on his nerves was like juggling with matches in a gunpowder barrel.

"Not a bad showing, Goku," Hotaru suddenly said. "There's the park."

"And there's the house, with its door wide open," Haruka added as her eyes narrowed. "Who was the last one to come out?"

"T'was me, but the door closed right behind me," Trunks replied. His eyes had, in the contrary, widened. Vegeta added speed and was now walking faster. The others almost ran to catch up with him and when they did, they could see that his eyes were closed. He was frowning but then again, he was almost always frowning.

"Watch out, a bump in the road," Bulma warned. Vegeta dodged the bump and then opened his eyes, seeming a bit… shocked. And furious.

"Two auras," he said. "Two human auras. Men. About forty years old. In. Our. Kitchen." The look in his eyes would've scared even the four horsemen of the Apocalypse to death. Or atleast three of them. "By the **fridge**."

Goku's eyes flashed too. The naïve joker got lost and the powerful Saiyan warrior stepped forth to defend his breakfast till the last drop of blood. Trunks's and Goten's fists clenched. That sight would've been enough to force the four horsemen to get jobs at McDonald's.

"Burglars, I suppose," Bulma remarked calmly. About ten years with Vegeta by her side had made her immune to just about everything. "Yeah, none of us locked the door, or what?"

"The door didn't even have a keyhole at night," Haruka replied, glancing curiously at the four warriors. "Hoo boy. I feel sorry for the burglars, I really do."

They had come to the house and peered inside. The drawers were pulled out, the closets were open and everything was thrown on the floor which was covered with dirty footprints.

"It's gonna take an eternity to clean that up…!" Bulma hissed quietly, glaring around as they sneaked in. They could hear two voices in the kitchen.

"Hey, this ham is pretty good!" one voice said, apparently with a grin. "Try it."

"Let's just hope the owners don't return soon," the other one replied. "I still wanna finish up with the potato salad."

"Yeah. It's gonna take _them_ an eternity to clean that up," Vegeta agreed with his wife just as quietly, looking towards the kitchen where two voices were to be heard. But his footsteps weren't quiet when he suddenly showed up on the doorway. Goku stepped behind the opened window at the same moment.

The two men were really in their mid-forties and obviously professional burglars which was most likely a well-paid occupation in that petrified city. One of them, the one eating ham was fat and short, with a brown face and tiny mean eyes. The other one was taller, paler and had light hair. His face seemed quite cruel too. Both wore dark clothes and there was a huge bag filled with valuable stuff they had found all over the house lying on the floor. In short, a nice cliché.

"Knock knock," Vegeta said with his eyes flaming in rage. The two men froze.

"I believe you accidentally came into the wrong house," the Saiyan prince said calmly. That was the kind of voice people get after passing the stage of normal anger and reaching the small puddle of deceptive friendliness that is about to turn into maniacal, gleaming fury. The two fell for it instantly.

"Why… really? I could've sworn it looked just like our house!" one man exclaimed with well-pretended surprise. The shorter one gasped as well.

"They all look so alike at night… and it's a capsule house too, they're all mass production. We're sorry, really," he added, noting that they were massively outnumbered. But then again… by that time everyone had showed up behind Vegeta's back and Goku was all alone behind the window, glaring silently at them or actually at the ham the shorter one was eating.

"I'm sure that you would just like to leave and not to bother anyone, right?" Vegeta continued. He was hungry. And had a short temper. The two men nodded frantically, quickly sending each other short glances that were supposed to describe their escape plan to each other.

"We will just get going now… it won't happen again, really," the taller one promised, leaning forward a bit and on the next second he suddenly grabbed the bag from the floor. Both burglars turned around and dashed towards the window, jumped on the windowsill, slammed their fists into Goku's face and leaped outside.

Mmyeah, let's rewind to the "slammed" part, shall we?

"See now, that wasn't very friendly," Goku commented, lifting the two up by their throats and placing them back inside.

"He doesn't even have a scratch…!" one burglar hissed to the other.

"You almost forgot this," Vegeta remarked, stepping into the kitchen and picking up a long heavy iron bar, the one people usually use to break doors open. "That is yours, isn't it?" The two nodded. Vegeta nodded too and tied the bar into a knot.

"Whoopsie," he said. "Looks like I broke it." The burglars' feet weren't carrying them any more. The prince of the Saiyans turned around to face them. His eyes narrowed, then widened, then flashed and turned green. The hair was suddenly golden. Small pieces started falling down from the ceiling as the Super Saiyan aura slowly climbed up Vegeta's feet, surrounded his shoulders and filled the whole kitchen, sizzling quietly.

"Isn't that a little redundant?" Goku asked curiously.

"The best way to let your anger out," Vegeta claimed with his eyes still nailed on the burglars who were desperately trying to look like the carpet. "The second best way, actually. The first one would be placing your hand in front of someone's face… and form a little energy orb…" a bright orb appeared by his palm, "and blast it into someone's face…"

"Waaaahhhh…. we're sorry, Sir, we didn't know!" The two burglars were petrified – and no wonder. "We give everything back, and everything we've stolen in the last month!" Vegeta's fist twitched a little. "In the last year! Year! Plleeeeease don't kill us!"

"Year, you said?" Goku asked thoughtfully, turning into a Super Saiyan too. "I don't think we need that. But what about the food you ate?" He wasn't as angry as Vegeta but then again, who could possibly be angrier than hungry Vegeta facing two burglars who just ate his food? Suddenly he raised his eyebrows. "And what's that horrible smell?"

Everyone glanced at the two burglars. At their pants, actually.

"That answers your question about the food they ate, Kakarot," Vegeta remarked with his eyebrows twitching. "For crying out loud…!"

Bulma calmly switched the air conditioner on.

"We'll buy you new food! Thrice as much as we ate!" the men promised.

"Let's see…" the ceiling was now full of cracks, "you have ten minutes to clean up the mess you made in the house, to clean yourselves up and to put everything back to where they belong. Otherwise…" his chin raised a little. "Well, you seem imaginative enough. And I wouldn't try to sneak away if I were you. I really wouldn't."

"Well, congratulations, Vegeta," Bulma announced, walking up to the fridge as the two men quickly disappeared from the kitchen and the Saiyans turned back to normal. "You managed to solve a situation without blowing anyone up. Doesn't it feel good to work out problems without violence?"

Vegeta snorted and sat down behind the table. "No. I just knew that if I wouldn't force them to clean the place up, you'd force me to do it. Now get me something to eat. Fast."

"Sure thing, Your Highness, just gnaw on this while I'm at it," his wife replied with a grin, throwing him a chicken leg. There was screaming in another room and something fell down with a crash. "Trying to sneak out, huh?" Trunks's voice asked over the familiar aura sizzling.

It took them two hours until everyone was full, the house was as clean as a Dragonball and the two burglars had bought their fridge full of food. Now they were standing there in the middle of the park, staring pitifully at Vegeta while Bulma packed the capsule house and unpacked the plane.

"Let's see now…" Vegeta muttered, obviously trying to come up with something.

"You're not planning to kill them, are you?" Michiru asked him.

"I've been a softie long enough," the prince remarked. "Would anyone actually miss them?"

"Perhaps they'll come in handy if we ever happen to visit this city again," Bulma guessed. "After all, they cleaned the house up very well."

"Fine then." Vegeta turned around and went on the plane. "Haruka, close the door. Let's go and find that last Dragonball."

The two thieves stared at the plane until it completely disappeared into the azure sky. Then they finally risked to breathe again.


	32. Yarr

**Chapter 32 – Yarr!**

The ocean was sliding by again, the sky was clear, the sun was shining and the last Dragonball blinked on the radar screen, closing in every minute.

"I wonder how much trouble the last Dragonball will be," Yaten commented, stretching his legs and yawning widely.

"Well, we already met," Trunks started counting on his fingers, "a murderous phoenix, some evil music, a possessed monk, rabid mermaids, Goku's dead father and Master Roshi. I mean, is there anything _worse_ we could possibly run into?"

"The great dragons of the southern seas?" Bulma guessed.

"Naw, they're actually very nice," Goku claimed.

"Is the Dragonball far away?" Vegeta asked Haruka who shook her head.

"We should get there in the evening."

"In that case it **is** far away!" Trunks complained with a wide yawn. "What are we supposed to do this whole day?"

"Practise bungee jumping or something," Haruka suggested with a sarcastic frown, "then you won't be around to whine so much."

"Hey, great idea!" Trunks pulled the door open and leaped out of the plane. "You coming, Goten?"

"Sure thing!" The other kid dashed outside too and Hotaru calmly shut the door again. The two brats whizzed past the windscreen and waved frantically at the others.

"Apparently they forgot the rope," Seiya commented with his eyebrow twitching.

Vegeta got up. "Actually this was a good idea. I've been neglecting my training lately, about time to start with it again. Kakarot, will you join me? I need someone to punch."

"You can start with punching those two wannabe seagulls off the windscreen," Haruka snarled. Trunks and Goten were floating in front of the windscreen and making faces at them.

"That's exactly what I had in mind," Vegeta nodded and left the plane. Goku followed him and closed the door.

The whole day was quiet. The Saiyans flew along with the plane and trained while flying, Haruka and Bulma took turns flying the plane, they landed once to tank the plane and when the sun finally touched the horizon, Haruka said:

"That should be the town. The Dragonball is in there."

Everyone came closer to the dashboard and admired the view – a small town by the ocean that was glittering in the setting sun. The town was surrounded by fields and woods and everything looked so picturesque. But Bulma frowned with concern.

"This Dragonball came farther than ever before," she said. "People don't come to these lands often. Not much is known about this area and that's mainly because most people who've made it here don't make it back home again. The journey is dangerous and people don't come by plane either because there just isn't any reason. These are old and forgotten lands, poor and boring. Some newer books don't even have their maps any more."

"The more forgotten a land is, the less boring it gets all the time," Trunks claimed, entering the plane again. "We should look around a little, whatcha think, huh?"

Haruka landed the plane and put it in the capsule, then she turned around to face the little town in front of them. Everyone else was standing still and looking at the town.

"Well, it sure looks… old," Taiki commented.

It really did. The houses were made of wood and the streets were narrow. There were no cars in sight – not even a bike, as a matter of fact. But there were many horse carriages and wagons. The streets were noisy and filled with people but they all wore clothes that were fashionable about two hundred years ago. Linen skirts, cotton jackets and leather boots… but no jeans or mini-skirts in sight.

"This looks like a medieval fair or something," Michiru said, looking around as they went on down the narrow street.

"It's not a fair… it's everyday life," Vegeta said with a frown. "Time is standing still for them. They obviously haven't had contact with the world outside this land for many centuries."

Trunks and Goten were about to fall over. "Whoa… this is so _cooooool_!" They stared around with their mouths open. "Man, I can't believe it!"

"Yeah, these people have never heard of cars or planes because nobody ever came here to tell them that such things existed," Bulma said with her eyes widening. "Or even if someone came, they most likely didn't believe him or her."

"Burned like witches," Hotaru agreed with a silent voice. "Where exactly are we going?"

"Well, if someone would cover my back, I could probably risk with taking the radar out and checking," Haruka remarked. "But…" they passed an execution stage that moment, "I think I'll rather wait until we find a more or less private place. I think this street leads to the harbor."

"At least they have ships… I'm sure they have some sort of contact with the rest of the world," Seiya said. They reached the harbour and stopped.

"Then again, I'm sure your newspapers would've remarked something if one of those showed up in Western Capital, right?" he asked after a short pause. Bulma nodded slowly.

Clippers. Barkentines. Brigantines. Whaling vessels. Trawlers. Schooners. Hundreds of masts reached out for the sky, hundreds of reefed sails waved slightly below the yards, hundreds of braces cut through the air like spider webs. The harbor was filled with people and everyone had something to do. A ship had just come in and Trunks's mouth fell open when he examined it. He poked Goten.

"Look… up there!"

"What?" his buddy looked up too and his mouth also fell open.

"This… is too… awesome!" he announced breathlessly. Trunks nodded frantically and the others looked up too to see what the kids had seen.

It was a ship like everyone else, a small schooner that had obviously seen better days. Many better days, as a matter of fact. The ship was dark: the wood it was made of had aged. The sails were bleached and above those sails, high above the main skysail yard, a black flag was dancing in the wind. A pitch-black flag with a grinning skull on it.

"Pirates," Yaten remarked calmly.

"Well, not worse than Master Roshi," Vegeta agreed. "Do they have the Dragonball, Haruka?"

The girl pulled the radar out and stepped behind Goku's big shoulder, just in case. "Let's see… no, not here. According to the map, it should be in…" she turned around, "there."

They looked at the tiny house for a while.

"A tavern," Goku finally said, deciding that nobody else felt like saying the word.

"A pirate tavern," Michiru replied with a concerned frown. "There must be many of them in there… look." She gestured towards the long row of ships before them and now the others also noticed that most ships had a black flag in the gaff. Trunks and Goten ran out of words.

"Well, pirates or not, we need that Dragonball," Yaten claimed, looking at the tavern's scarred door. "Does anyone feel like kicking some scallywag butt?"

"Yup," Vegeta nodded.

"Good, then you get the glory. Let's go." Yaten started off towards the tavern and Vegeta followed him with a slight grin. The others looked at each other and then moved on too.

The tavern was, of course, crowded. Cigar smoke floated below the ceiling and the air was thick of all the different smells and sounds. Nobody paid much attention to the newcomers but that was about to change because Vegeta made his way through to crowd to the middle of the room and raised his voice:

"Listen up, you seadogs," now everyone turned their heads, noting that the guy was a complete stranger, "I'm looking for a small orange crystal ball and I'm not leaving before I have it."

The tavern was quiet for a few seconds, then ominous muttering started in a few corners. Who's that foolish landlubber anyway, marching in here and asking questions? Some pirates pulled their swords out. But Haruka raised her hand and the Space Sword appeared too.

"Easy, buddies, someone might get hurt," she warned.

A second later all swords in the tavern had been pulled out. Predictably enough.

"Make it better "someone will get hurt"," the girl said with a frown, pulling the sword out of its sheathe. All of a sudden she was surrounded by red glow. The nearer pirates gasped.

"Where's the Dragonball?" Vegeta asked Haruka who pulled the radar out and activated it.

"Witch… witch… witch…!" frantic whispering started in the corners – pirates are usually pretty superstitious – while Haruka announced, pointing at a pirate captain sitting by a nearby table: "He has it."

"Ye will never get me crystal ball!" the captain grunted, pulling out his cutlass. Haruka raised her brows, walked up to the captain, glanced curiously at the sword and then – whzzzt. A piece of steel fell on the floor, giving a sad "cling" as the captain stared at the rest of the sword in his hand.

"Cheap toy," the girl muttered while the other pirates attacked her. But now Vegeta dashed forward too and Goku was suddenly in the middle of the ruckus. While Haruka cut another sword into pieces, the pirate who was about to stab her in the back suddenly discovered that something had blocked his move. The discovery that it had been the arm of a little kid didn't make him feel any better either.

All of a sudden the whole tavern was filled with furious yelling and gunshots. Pirates attacked from every side, nobody could clearly understand whom he hit and whether he missed or not. The whole place was nothing but a fierce, roaring, steel-packed mass of anger. For a whole two minutes.

"That was fun," Goten remarked as the last pirate fell down. Bulma, Michiru and the Three Lights had been watching the whole thing from the doorway as they didn't have much chance against the swords and guns. But Haruka's eyes were gleaming with joyous excitement and Sailor Saturn's Silence Glaive towered victoriously above the tables.

"Down here," Goku called helpfully, seeing that Vegeta was looking around and pulled the pirate captain out of the pile of other pirates. The seadog opened his eyes and glared at him.

"Just give it here," Vegeta suggested as his black eyes promised another painful experience. The captain muttered something and dug a Dragonball out of his bag.

"Now we have them all," Michiru said as they left the tavern and went down the street. "Now we can go home."

The others nodded but nobody said a word. Leaving that planet wasn't going to be easy… after so many adventures and fights together with the Saiyans.

"Does anyone have any Senzu beans left?" Haruka finally asked, breaking the silence. "Some wizeguy shot my arm back at the tavern."

"What?" Michiru gasped and grabbed Haruka's hand. The bullet had drilled itself right through the biceps and dark blood was dripping down her arm. "Why didn't you say anything?"

"I just did," Haruka frowned. "Thanks." She swallowed the Senzu Vegeta had given her and the wound disappeared. "So… are we going to use the Dragonballs right now?"

"Let's leave the town first, shall we?" Bulma suggested with a sigh. "People could have a problem with us calling the Eternal Dragon in the middle of the street."

So they left the town and found a small plain near it. Bulma bit her lip and poured the seven crystal balls out on the grass.

"Well, that's it," she said and her voice was shaking a little. "It was great having you guys around and all…" Trunks and Goten nodded.

"Yeah…" Haruka nodded too. "Let's not get all weepy now… call that dragon, okay?" But her voice was soft too.

The crystal balls were glowing brightly when Bulma turned to them, cleared her throat and called: "Eternal Dragon Shenlong, I summon you!"

The sky turned dark. The sun had been setting one way or another but now it was covered by thick black clouds. The Dragonballs glowed more and more brightly and then flashed. And the huge golden dragon figure…

… didn't dash out. Instead of that, something sparkled in the air about two feet above the crystal balls and then something square, small and white landed on the ground. The clouds faded away and the Dragonballs turned into stones.

"What the hell?" Goku asked, crouching down and picking the thing up.


	33. A haunted inn

**Chapter 33 – A haunted inn**

_Author's Note: yus, you guessed it, I've been lazy again. Evil school... and evil driving school. Ahwell. Atleast now you'll have yet another ultra-haunted chapter. Typical me. Enjoy..._

"Okay… that was unexpected," Haruka slowly said.

"It just couldn't have been that easy, or what?" Seiya asked with a grim frown. The two Saiyan brats had surrounded Goku. "What is it, huh, huh? Is it a treasure map? Or a gem?"

"Looks like a note," Goku replied, examining the white square.

"What does it say? What does it say?" Trunks and Goten hopped around him, completely forgetting that they were able to fly. Goku read the note and said slowly:

"Dear Dragonball summoner, due to my vacation there will be no fulfilling the wishes this year. Please contact my agent for further instructions. Yours sincerely, Eternal Dragon Shenlong."

(_Author's note: This could now use some general falling over anime-style but things like these only have their effect on TV…so either use your imagination or let's stick to good olde mouth-falls-open staring.)_

"Vacation? Eternal Dragon Shenlong can't possibly go on vacation!" Bulma yelled.

"I know I'd need a vacation if I spent most of my time stuck in seven crystal balls all over the planet and only got out in order to fulfill someone's dumb wish," Vegeta commented. Bulma glared at him.

"Yeah, but it's a divine dragon, not a job at McDonald's!"

"And therefore his job is a lot harder," Vegeta agreed. "Remember those guys at McDonald's? It took them fifteen minutes to get me that burger. And it didn't have any taste at all."

"What exactly do they mean with "contact my agent?" Michiru interjected, peering over Goku's shoulder. The others pondered that for a moment.

"Is there a phone number or something?" Yaten finally asked. Goku turned the card around a few times and finally discovered a tiny number at the bottom of the card.

"I think it's 5483-52094-429something0343…" he said, narrowing his eyes.

Seiya frowned. "That'll only get you to some pinhead who gives you another long phone number and suggests you to call this-and-that. I know a thing or two about agents, believe me. They hate being found by random people."

"Okay, so where would you go if you were a giant eternal dragon?" Vegeta asked, picking the stone Dragonballs up again.

"Far away from humans," Hotaru said firmly.

"Somewhere spacious," Trunks guessed. "That dragon is big."

"And sunny," Gohan added. "You know how the sky always turns dark when he shows up, I bet he's sick of it."

"But still a place where he could get everything he wants," Bulma claimed. "You know, like lemonade, or sun lotion."

"Sun lotion for a seven-mile dragon?" Goku asked, raising a brow.

"I think I know a place that'd be worth a try," Vegeta remarked. The others glanced at him. "Yea?"

The Saiyan prince frowned and yawned widely. "If I told you now, you'd all eagerly want to run down there and grab the dragon. It's getting late, why don't we all hit the hay and take care of the whole Dragonball business tomorrow? I believe the town has some decent inns."

"That kind of town is always filled with cockroaches," Michiru claimed.

"Oh come on…!" Trunks and Goten were instantly on Vegeta's side. "How often do you get to spend a night at a medieval town?"

"Luckily not very often," the girl agreed and snorted quietly. "But if you really want to sleep in a place where nobody has ever heard of bugspray, sewers or liquid soap…"

"We do!" the brats announced.

"Yeah, it's just as good as that recording studio in Tokyo's northern part," Yaten remarked.

"And I thought I'd been to places…" Bulma murmured when they started back towards the town. Seiya laughed.

"Recording studios are a whole new world. By the way, I really don't think they accept your money here. Does anyone have," he peered at a menu on a tavern's door, "any golden dubloons?"

The others glanced at each other. Bulma took a deep breath and then pushed her chin up like the confident, marches-over-dead-bodies woman she had always been.

"Give me ten minutes. Vegeta, come with me." She dashed down the street and the prince of the Saiyans followed her, raising his eyebrows. The others remained in the middle of the crowded street, waiting and feeling a bit uncomfortable as the locals were curiously staring at them because of their bizarre clothes.

"Is she planning to rob a bank or something?" Goku asked. Trunks frowned a bit.

"Since she took Dad along… I wouldn't be surprised, really. What did medieval people do with thieves?" asked then, peering at the open door of the restaurant. Ooh, those wonderful scents…

"Hard labour, death punishment or the hands got chopped off," Hotaru replied. Trunks bit his lip. "Even for, let's say, a slice of pie?" The girl nodded.

"Sheesh…" Trunks muttered and then sensed his father's aura again. "They're coming back!"

Vegeta and Bulma showed up a few minutes later, arguing fiercely over something. Vegeta was carrying a huge bag.

"Woman, you've completely lost it!" he declared by the time they had gotten close enough to the others so that they could hear the argument. "Actually it had to happen sooner or later but really – a goddamn handful of one-pound golden rings? I can understand coins but I can assure you that you are never ever going to wear some huge massive golden ring as long as I live!"

"And why not?" Bulma snapped, obviously very upset. "Women like to look pretty, thank you! And I'm a woman, in case you haven't noticed!"

Vegeta muttered something sarcastic and then added in a louder voice: "Just for the record, looking like a goldmine doesn't equal with looking pretty. Besides, too much jewellery makes you look old."

This time Bulma hesitated. "Really?" Now they had gotten to the others and Michiru had a chance to say something as well.

"He's right, Bulma. So many old women swarm themselves with jewellery, thinking that it'll make them look more attractive. Sad, actually."

"No, they're almost right," Vegeta commented with a slight grin and put the bag down. "Jewellery does make them more attractive. At least for robbers." The bag fell open a bit and everyone gasped, seeing that it was full of gold and silver coins. The bag was about the size of a potato sack so there had to be a real fortune inside.

"They robbed a bank," Trunks declared.

"Not a bank," his father replied, "a pirate ship. I don't think they'll even notice that something is missing… why would any human in the whole world need so much gold?"

"Yeah, you have no idea what it looked like in there!" Bulma stated enthusiastically. "So many jewels and coins and beautiful artefacts and necklaces, rings, bracelets, tiaras, oh, you should've seen that!"

"Random junk made of shiny metal," Vegeta translated. "One way or another, now we have something to buy food for. Pick a random inn now, people."

"I believe they're all equally horrible," Taiki guessed.

Goku sniffed the air. "But I believe that there's one that has a good cook."

"Well, your stomach has already proved itself, so let's go," Haruka agreed.

The narrow streets and Goku's nose finally took them to a small wooden inn that had a golden anchor above the door. The place was quite big and not very crowded. The housekeeper was a fat man with a red face and he was wearing a clean apron. That and the scents coming from the kitchen proved that this was no dirty tavern that served beer and steaks only, at least that's where Goku's nose was never wrong.

"We would like to have something to eat and a few rooms to stay overnight," Haruka told the inn-keeper, stepping towards the counter. The man gave her a short look and said:

"Aye, ye can get somethin' to eat… if ye have gold to pay fer it. But I will warn ye right now: this inn be haunted. Yer welcome to stay, but fer that ye must have nerves of steel."

"Thanks loads, Goku," Seiya commented. The Saiyan shrugged.

"Who cares about some ghosts? As long as they have good food and a soft bed, this place can haunt as much as it wants."

"Yeah, after everything we've been through so far I'd even be happy to see one normal ghost in a white bedsheet," Goten supported. "Let me see the menu now…"

The food was indeed great and as they had a real fortune with them, everyone was full by the time the sun set. And as it turned dark outside, all the other guests left. They had come to drink a beer or two but none of them obviously wanted to stay overnight. When Goku pointed that out, the master sighed and nodded.

"Like me said, this place be haunted. Years ago an old and powerful pirate captain be killed here in a fight and he be hauntin' here ever since. Along with most of his crew. T'was a long and bloody fight, aye…"

Vegeta snorted quietly, for him Planet Earth had never seen a **real** long and bloody fight, at least not among humans. But Michiru turned a bit pale and moved closer to Haruka.

"Perhaps we should still find another inn…?" she asked. Haruka frowned.

"Don't be silly… even if this place is haunted by some old captain, ghosts are nothing but ectoplasm. They can't hurt you."

"Unless they throw a knife at you," Trunks agreed. "But don't worry, Michiru. We'll protect you."

"Yeah? Are you planning to scare the ghosts away with your snoring?" Goten asked with a grin.

"How come you're able to live in this house when it's haunted so badly that nobody wants to stay?" Taiki asked the master who sighed again.

"I be leavin' food fer the ghosts on the doorstep ev'ry evenin', otherwise they'd driven me out a long time ago."

"They actually eat?" Bulma asked, raising her brows. The master shook his head and sighed for the third time. "Me simply have nothin' else to give them. I be not rich. But they be fine with the food and let me stay here fer that."

"Well, that's not very nice," Goku snarled. "Taking your food just so that you could live in your house even though they never eat it? Sounds like those pirates need a little lesson."

Vegeta stared at him with his mouth full. "Aw cwom won, Kakawot…" he swallowed the steak, coughed a little and then carried on: "You're not planning to play some caped superhero again, are you? Seriously, all that saving-little-people-in-need stuff is getting a little repetitive."

"But he really is in need!" Goku argued.

"Oh please…" Vegeta frowned and grabbed another steak, "there's always a bright side. This man never has to fear any thieves, or what?"

"Aye," the man agreed very grimly, "luckily the thieves livin' under me roof keep the other thieves outside." For a worried man he managed to sound pretty sarcastic.

"Don't worry," Michiru comforted, "perhaps we can help you."

"Nobody can be helpin' me with that," the master claimed. "But if ye want a room and be not afraid of the ghosts then yer all very welcome to stay."

"We'll see who's going to be afraid of whom if they dare to disturb my sleep," Vegeta predicted when the master led them upstairs. The house wasn't small but it gave that impression because or its narrow corridors and dark walls. There were no lamps or torches, not even a window and the corridor would've been pitch-black if the master wouldn't have had a lantern. Trunks tried to form and energy orb to show more light. Vegeta and Bulma smacked him.

"Unfortunately the rooms be in bad condition at the moment," the housekeeper apologized, stopping behind a door. "The ghosts flooded the inn some days ago and most of the furniture be not dry yet. But the beds that remained dry be big and me hope ye can manage this."

"Don't worry, as long as it's dry and a bit softer than a rock, we can sleep on it," Goku reassured. The master opened the door and showed them a vast room that was filled with all sorts of furniture. A gigantic bed stood by the wall, another one was in the middle of the room and a cupboard was standing next to it. There were also a few sofas, armchairs, tables and chests. And not much room to even turn around.

"This be the only room that be not damaged in the flood," the inn-keeper explained. "We be keepin' all the furniture that be not damaged in here. Tis be only temporary but I be very sorry that I cannot offer ye anything better."

"How come this room was the only one that wasn't damaged?" Seiya asked. "It's in the middle of the house, the other rooms couldn't have possibly be flooded without leaving a single mark here!"

"Read more ghost stories," Trunks suggested, rubbing his fresh bump. "Those pirate ghosts haunt in this room and that's why they spared it."

"Aye, ye be a smart lad," the housemaster nodded. "Now, can I get ye anything? Would ye like to be waked up in the morning at a specific time?"

"No!" everyone replied firmly. The man blinked, nodded, wished them a good night, warned them once more for the ghosts and then closed the door. The gang looked around in the room and then tried to settle down somehow.

"Not exactly the Hilton Hotel," Seiya remarked, sitting down on a sofa, "but I guess it'll do for tonight."

"We're all full of great food, we have a bunch of soft beds and sofas to spend the night on and if we get lucky, we even get to see ghosts," Goku replied enthusiastically, plumping down on one of the beds. "What else do you want?"

"Well, I for example want that bed," Vegeta said with a frown, "so move it, Kakarot. You were planning to sit up all night watching ghosts anyway."

"But I…!" the Saiyan argued and the others spent five interesting minutes watching the two Saiyan warriors fight over a bed. Of course, Vegeta won. He had always been better at logic and as soon as he said that one of those bumpy sofas would give Goku a lot better view at the ghosts, the other one moved over instantly. The rest giggled and found a softer spot for themselves as well. There was plenty of room and the girls could even find pillows and blankets. It was getting late and they all had a feeling that the night wouldn't be peaceful so they fell asleep pretty fast.

CLANG!

"It's midnight, huh?" Vegeta asked with a grim frown without even opening his eyes.

"I guess so…" Bulma muttered from under a pile of blankets. "Get back to sleep, I s'pose they'll let us know when they need us…"

"Mhmm……" Vegeta's reply faded into calm breathing and the room was quiet for a while, until another loud CLANG was to be heard. It was distant and had a metallic echo, an eerie and ominous sound that would give anyone chills. Or anyone who doesn't happen to be a Saiyan/Sailor warrior with a long journey behind them. Nobody woke up. Only Trunks scratched his leg a little and then curled up again.

"Yarrrrrr…" someone howled nearby and still far away. It was an odd sound, hard to describe and reminded of very good movie effects… if there had been anyone to appreciate the effort. The room was again quiet for a while, then one white figure floated in through the wall.

"What the hell be that?" he asked with a hollow voice that lost most of its creepiness because of the surprise in it. "Mateys, come 'ere, ya hear me?"


	34. Bureaucracy

**Chapter 34 - Bureaucracy**

The room was calm for a few minutes. The Saiyans were in deep sleep and the Sailor Soldiers hadn't moved a muscle. The white floating mass hovered silently by the wall, looking at the adventurers before him.

"Yarr?" he tried. There was no reaction.

"Mateys!" he yelled then while peering at the gang. Goten scratched his shoulder and drilled his head under the pillow. A few seconds later everything was silent again until a distant "arrrrr!" was to be heard. The eerie sound came closer, not even through the walls but through dimensions. Finally three white figures floated in through the wall.

"Arr, who be those foolish mortals who be sleepin' in the inn that has been declared ours?" one of them roared. The windows clattered, a huge candelabrum waggled in the ceiling and then fell down straight into Goku's face. The Saiyan muttered something in his sleep, pushed the candlestick aside and curled up, hugging the bumpy pillow.

"Foolish? Aye. Mortal? I not be that sure," one of the ghosts stated grimly.

"Everything be mortal!" the other claimed viciously. "Yarr! Wake up, ye pathetic landlubbers!" he roared, floating towards the beds and sofas. "We be here to teach ye a lil' lesson! This inn be ours and nobody…"

"Thay not be listenin', matey," the third ghost commented.

"Thay will be!" the pirate yelled and slammed a ghostly shackle against the wall. It gave a clear, fierce sound but it had an echo that showed the chain's twisted origin. Distant wailing and moaning was to be heard when the echo faded – the housekeeper and his family had woken up. But none of the fighters in that room. The pirate stared at them, then rattled the chains again. This time it even worked. Haruka dragged her eyes open.

"Goddammit, keep it down, you morons!" she hissed. "Some people are trying to sleep in here!"

The ghost turned to her, small eyes flaming with fury. "We be the ghosts of the most famous pirates ever to sail the seven seas and…"

"She be not listenin'," the third ghost commented again with a frown. Haruka had fallen asleep again. The first ghost looked like he was about to blow up.

"WAKE UP!" he yelled, rattling his chains frantically. "Wake up, ye lousy good-fer-nothin' landlubbers! Wake up and face yer fate, I tells ye!"

Now Trunks's eyes slid open. He stood up, yawned and then hopped on the floor, scratching his head. The four ghosts instantly gathered in front of him.

"Arr, ye lil' lilly livered lad!" one of them roared victoriously. "Now we be teachin' ye a lesson ye won't forget so easily!"

Trunks squinted at him. "Uhuh?" He yawned again. "You'll have to wait a little with that then, I need to go to the little pirates' room. S'cuse me." He waddled forward, went right through one of the ghosts, shivering a little – walking through a ghost usually feels cold – and disappeared behind the door.

The room was very quiet for a short while.

"That… insolent… brat!" one of the ghosts hissed then.

"We be not able to touch the living," one of his buddies reminded him, "and the living be not able to touch us. If they won't be wakin' up, thar be nothin' we can do to them."

"We can scare the daylight straight outta them!" a third ghost claimed.

"The lil' lad didn't seem scared to me," the fourth one remarked.

"Because he be sleepy, he be not able to think clearly," the first one said with a mean grin. "If we manage to fully wake up one of 'em, they'll start singin' another song very quickly."

The four ghosts floated around the room for a few moments and then surrounded Bulma.

"Wake up, lil lassie!" the long-lost pirate yelled into the woman's ear. "Wake up and see the delegates of the Afterworld before you!"

Bulma opened her eyes. "What the… oh. Hrmh. What happened to those funny-looking ogres then?"

The pirates glanced at each other and eventually decided to get straight to the point.

"Ye have dared to trespass and this here be our inn," one of them declared. "Leave now or suffer the consequences!"

At any other time Bulma would really have screamed and run away but at the moment she was really exhausted and the last days had steeled her nerves one way or another. So she just did what most wives do when something wakes them up at night.

"Vegeta," she mumbled, turning the side and poking her husband, "some ghosts wanna drive us out of here."

"Uhuh?" a sleepy and very grumpy voice emerged from under the blankets.

"They say that we're trespassing. Should we leave?" the woman asked with a yawn.

"Naw," the blankets growled.

"Mmkay," Bulma muttered, hiding under the pillows again. "G'night."

Silence fell into the room again until Trunks came back and got to bed. The pirates looked at each other.

"Noise doesn't work… what else be thar for wakin' up mortals?" the second ghost asked.

"This," the third one hissed and raised his semi-transparent hand in an ancient glove. The walls flashed, something ripped between dimensions and all of a sudden water started running down the walls. The whole room was suddenly filled with the salty scent of the seas and this time everyone could smell it because the water was freezing. No matter how tired and sleepy you are, there's nothing like some cold water to wake you up.

Unfortunately the ghosts hadn't counted with a gang of very awake and utterly furious mortals who didn't feel like being scared at all.

"Why I oughtta…!" Seiya fumed with his dark eyes burning behind his dripping hair.

"I'm pretty sure that my Final Flash attack was able to destroy ectoplasm," Vegeta agreed, glaring grimly at the ghosts. "Worth a try, eh? Some midnight training wouldn't be such a bad idea." A small water stream hit him in the face but he didn't even blink, still glaring at the floating masses through the prism of salty water.

"Ectoplasm along with most of this town," Michiru commented, wrapping herself up in her wet blanket and shuddering.

"Not much of a loss," Goku grumbled. The others glanced at him with slight surprise. Once Goku said something like that, things had to be **very** serious.

"I'm not sure about the Final Flash attack," Hotaru said, getting up. She was paler than usually and shivering. The cold water was bound to give her weak health a serious strike. But her huge eyes had that old familiar look in them again – the determined, mean, fierce look. "One thing is sure though." The Silence Glaive appeared in her hand. "The Glaive is able to destroy anything."

The ghosts slowly started to get a feeling that waking the mortals up hadn't been such a great idea after all.

"Is it also able to stop that water?" Yaten demanded, soaking wet like a drowned kitten.

Hotaru looked up the walls with a slight frown. "It's a dimensional rip. My Glaive is only able to cut, not mend. That would be…"

"My business," Sailor Pluto's calm voice finished her sentence. The woman slid in through the wall, surrounded by a slight purple glow that apparently kept her contact with her own dimension and also prevented her from getting wet. She stepped through a flow of water which ran down the glow surrounding her and faced the four ghosts. The Garnet Orb started glowing.

"We discussed this already," she said strictly. "The dimensions must not be mixed. You are only allowed to travel between them due to your contract but you must not interfere with them. Did you get it this time?" The flood stopped as suddenly as it had started and the water on the floor disappeared. The furniture and the bunch of adventurers sitting on it were still wet though.

"Finish what you started, Setsuna, before we all get pneumonia here," Haruka demanded with a grim frown, pulling her dripping bangs away from her eyes. "This water is cold!"

"I guess all drops should be sent back," Sailor Pluto agreed, waving her sceptre and everything in the room was dry again. "Don't let me catch you doing something like that again, okay?" she asked the ghosts who nodded grumpily. "I do reserve the right to question your contracts, don't forget that I'm the keeper of Space and Time. Have a nice day then." She turned around and went into the wall again.

The Silence Glaive blocked her way.

"Aren't you going to help us?" Hotaru asked in surprise.

"That's not my business," Sailor Pluto replied. "I just need to fix all malfunctions in Space and Time. If you'd excuse me now, somebody has apparently invented a time machine again…" She pushed the Glaive aside and disappeared.

The room was quiet again.

"Sometimes I really feel like beating the daylight out of that woman," Haruka commented.

"She's just doing her job," Bulma claimed.

"Yeah, and as I've understood, her main idea of that job is making our lives as difficult as possible," the girl grumbled.

"What contract did she mean?" Goku asked the ghosts who exchanged grim glances and then shortly dug in their clothes. Four semi-transparent papers were stuck under the Saiyan's nose.

"The official committee of the Afterworld's Internal and External Politics' Office, room 28472, contract number 149823472… and 149823473 and two more," Goku read down from the papers, "it is hereby allowed the following person: Captain Bloodeye, pirate, some other text in tiny writing, to enter the world of mortals as a ghost, brackets, a mass of human-like ectoplasm unable to contact the mortals physically, see Universal Encyclopedia, issue 2455 for further information, brackets end, in order to communicate with them, brackets, see reason below, brackets end… whoa, this is complicated."

"They just got permission from the Afterworld to come back into our world as ghosts," Bulma the guru of official talk explained.

"I would really have gone to the Hell if I were you," Vegeta remarked, still sleepy and grumpy. "At least they don't have cockroaches. And the sewers have already been invented."

"Our spirits be restless, thar be things we didn't finish when we were still alive, thus we're forever cursed to roam the world of the living," one of the pirates stated with slight hesitation.

"Knowing the Afterworld's bureaucracy, getting that permission to be cursed forever took you about two months, or what?" Trunks asked. The pirates nodded grimly.

"So what didn't you finish?" the boy asked. "The master of this inn fed you a steak that was half raw?"

"Not the steak, but the beer was sour!" one of the ghosts stated snappily.

"That's where the four started a fight and eventually were killed in it," Goten added with a wise nod.

"Me started the fight," the third pirate claimed as the other three nodded. "Thay just be killed in the fight as well, thus we came here together."

"This is unbelievable…" Vegeta muttered with his eyes narrowing more and more. A single vein twitched in his forehead. A storm was approaching.

"Yeah, two months only to write some stupid contracts," Trunks supported.

"Okay then," Vegeta said, seemingly calming down but actually just reaching the quiet puddle of deceptiveness right before the flaming fury stage again. "The master of this house was nice enough to us," he raised his hand, "and his food wasn't bad at all." An energy orb formed around his hand. Goku silently floated behind the pirates' backs. "And I want to go back to bed, got it?"

The room flashed. A powerful stream of pulsating energy dashed out of Vegeta's palm, attacked the four ghosts, incinerated them and then hit Goku's arms who was struck back because of the utter mass and strength of the beam. But he managed to hold the beam and eventually it died out, leaving nothing behind but some smell of a fried chicken.

"If they don't die at first, try again," the Saiyan prince commented with a vague grin. "Can we go to sleep now?"

"Yeah, I've had enough ghosts for today," Taiki agreed, curling up on the sofa. "Goodnight, everyone."

Everyone muttered back in agreement and a few moments later they were already asleep, knowing nothing about the inn-keeper's nervous and frightened family downstairs or the huge machine of bureaucracy that was forced to start rolling in the Afterworld because of new arrivals with some contradictory documents.

The inn-keeper heard of the happenings in the morning when the travellers came downstairs to order some breakfast and he had never been happier.

"Ye got rid of the ghosts?" he exclaimed. "Really? Me be wonderin' why thay didn't take the food… arr, this be the best news me ever heard! That'll be 56 golden dubloons," then added quickly, remembering how much the Saiyans ate. Even his overflowing happiness didn't force him to feed them for free.

When they left the tavern, the sun was already high above the rooftops. They had slept long because they hadn't gotten much sleep last night but now they were fresh, fed and washed – the inn had even had some prehistoric bathroom-kinda-place – and ready to search for Eternal Dragon Shenlong. Everyone peered at Vegeta who had claimed to know something about the matter.

"Well, Vegeta?" Haruka finally asked. "Where to?"

"Into the plane and off, we can't take it out of the capsule inside the town anyway," the prince replied. "Don't be so impatient. We don't even know if it works."

The birds were singing, the mistresses were throwing out the trash, some people were going towards the local market and the air was filled with happy and careless chatting. The small town was indeed friendly – even if it would've lost the friendliness as soon as the technology of capsules would've been revealed. So they just exited the town and finally got to the place where they had tried to summon Shenlong the day before. Bulma opened the capsule, they got in and Haruka sighed deeply, taking the plane off again. She was already getting sick and tired of constant driving. At least the places she could see through the windscreen were pretty exciting.

And were about to get more exciting.

"Okay, Vegeta, I think we're far enough," she said, taking the plane a little higher. "Now what?"

"Now it's Kakarot's turn," Vegeta replied. "One instant translocation, right here, right now."

"Where to?" Goku asked, concentrating.

Vegeta told him. The others stared at him and there at Goku.

The Saiyan warrior blinked.

"You're the boss," he said then and the plane disappeared.


	35. Hell's borders

**Chapter 35 – Hell's borders**

_Author's note: Yus, you guessed it, a streak of lazyness again. Not to mention homework/driving school/forgetting to write the fic. But the story is nearing its end, there won't be more than two or three chapters left so enjoy it while it still lasts..._

Haruka grabbed the steering lever and held it very tight as soon as she saw from the corner of her eye that Goku concentrated. She forced her eyes open. After all, she was responsible for them all. The azure sky behind the windscreen flashed white, sparkled for a mere second and then the scene changed. The others opened their eyes but Haruka was already maneuvering between huge puffs of yellow clouds in the pink sky.

"So, what exactly did you mean with…" Seiya started.

"Ladies and gentlemen… and Seiya, please take your seats and fasten your seatbelts, we're going down," Haruka interrupted with a vague grimace. "We have a long way to go so don't try to play acrobats here, instability will only take us there faster." Now the grimace turned into a grim grin.

Yellow clouds whizzed by. Trunks started humming "_Highway to Hell_". The Three Lights glared at him.

"Why so nervous?" Vegeta asked them. "It's just the Hell."

"Whadda you mean with "just"?" Michiru asked, being just as nervous.

"Cool down, all of you," Haruka suggested from the wheel. "You're too stuck in stereotypes, you know."

"Yeah, it's just a nice place where bad guys go after they die," Goku supported. "Just like Heaven is a nice place where good guys go after they die. Don't crash now, Haruka. We're almost there."

Haruka pulled the plane a little, it smashed through the clouds and a wide colorful landscape, mainly red and yellow under the pink sky stretched out in front of their eyes. The girl stabilized the vehicle and it slid down, horizontal again.

"It's a lot… less red than I imagined," Michiru admitted.

"Do they have shopping centers?" Bulma asked curiously.

"There is one, but it doesn't restock often because people don't go there often," Vegeta replied, standing up and going to the window. "Shrouds don't have pockets as you know and most people who land in Hell come here with no money whatsoever. The main customers are ancient Egyptians as I heard… smart folk, really. And anyone who's strong enough to beat the security guards up."

Bulma's eyes widened. "There was nothing like that in Heaven!" After Maijin Buu blew the Earth up, she had been to Heaven for a short while, but never in Hell.

"Because Heaven is mainly filled with do-gooder sissies who prefer picking flowers to shopping," Vegeta agreed, pointing at a plain near a blood pond. "Land there, Haruka."

"What about all the blonde chicks whose lives consist of shopping only?" Taiki asked, looking up.

"When they die young enough to still be interested in shopping, that's usually because of drinking and driving or an overdose, and then they end up here," the Saiyan prince replied and shuddered. "It was creepy, I tell you. They had a sale once when I was down here. Nothing I'd like to witness again."

"Dad has died twice and been here often," Trunks explained to the earthers with a wide grin.

"Where did the chicks get the money?" Yaten asked after a short pause of silence.

Vegeta shrugged. "They shoplift. It is the Hell, you know… not much to scare them with, and those security guards are hopeless softies when it comes to puppydog eyes."

Bulma grabbed his arm and grinned widely. "Cool! Will you take me shopping then, huh, huh?"

"Maybe after we've found Shenlong," the prince snorted. The plane bumped against the ground and stopped after a short while.

"Where are you planning to find that dragon?" Haruka asked when they got out of the plane and looked around. The trees were green, flowing softly in the wind, the blood fountains were singing quietly and the air was pretty fresh.

"What right do they actually have to call this place the Hell?" Yaten asked, looking around curiously. "I should become a bad guy, really."

"It's not the landscape that makes this place a Hell, but the locals," Goku replied. Vegeta nodded in agreement.

"Why do you think the Eternal Dragon is here?" Bulma asked her husband.

The Saiyan prince glanced at her. "He needs a place that's spacious, well lit, away from mortals and advanced enough to produce everything a gigantic dragon needs on vacation. Shall we compile a list of all the vacation resorts that are good enough?"

"Where should we start?" Haruka asked, leaning against the side of the plane. "Does this place have a beach?"

"Not that I've heard of, but things may have changed since my last visit," Vegeta replied.

"Let's just ask someone," Bulma suggested. "It's a gigantic dragon, surely someone has seen him."

"Yeah, those funny guarding ogres may know something," Trunks agreed. "Hey! Anyone here? We're trespassing here, someone get over here to throw us out!"

"Coming, coming." They turned around to see a massive ogre trot towards them. "Hey, I know you! Are you really trying to get me fired here? Sheesh!"

"Hi, Mezu!" Goku greeted him. "We're just looking for the Eternal Dragon Shenlong, have you seen him anywhere?"

"Yeah, he's on vacation on the shores of the Sea of Void over there," the ogre pointed towards the sharp mountains in the distance, "but you're not allowed to go there and I'm gonna have to show you out…"

The plane took off.

"Now," Mezu finished grimly. "This is depressing…"

"What's the Sea of Void?" Hotaru asked when the plane accelerated and turned towards the mountains.

"Never heard of it," both Saiyans replied.

"But we'll probably find it out soon enough," Goku added.

"Probably just another blood ocean with a fancy name," Goten guessed. "If I had to name places in Hell, the Sea of Void would be high on my list, really."

"If Hell was run by little brats with overwhelming fantasies then I'd agree with you but as it's run by boring and slow-witted bureaucrats then fancy names are out of the question," Vegeta said. "Kakarot, do your dimension-bending trick. I have a feeling that the sea is very far away."

Goku nodded, something twitched in the scenery before them though the mountain peaks kept whizzing by like before. Haruka's eyes narrowed, she bowed closer to the screen and then took the plane a little higher to see what's behind the peaks.

They saw it.

Silence fell on the plane.

Haruka slowed down and turned the vehicle, now it was still flying over the mountains but diagonally. She really didn't feel like losing the ground, or even the sharp peaks under the plane.

"The Sea of Void," Hotaru said, breaking the silence. Her voice was just as good as the silence though. Had always been.

The Hell floated in the lower regions of the Afterworld and even though it had no seas, it still had to be surrounded by something, the Sea of Void for that matter. The pink sky faded darker and darker until it became fully black, the yellow shore was washed by the waves of the Sea that were just as black. But the Sea itself had no horizon. It was void. Black, empty cosmos with thousands of glittering stars piercing it.

Haruka landed the plane and after short hesitation they all stood on the shore, looking out over the end of the Hell. Vegeta floated up in the air and above the Sea. He looked down.

"Looks like the real deal to me," he said.

Michiru crouched down and touched the waves that were rolling on the yellow ground – not exactly sand but some harder, tougher substance.

"It's not wet," she said, standing up again. "It just… feels like nothing."

Bulma was biting her nails. "Vegeta, get back here… I don't want you to fall into nothingness for ever and ever and ever!"

"Yeh, okay," Vegeta flew back and landed. "So that's the end of the Hell. Nice. So where's that dragon?"

"Somewhere on this shore that's most likely millions and billions of miles long," Bulma predicted.

"That'll take a short while," Yaten commented.

"Maybe not even too long as Mezu pointed somewhere in this direction," Trunks remarked. "It's a seven-mile dragon, how hard could finding him be?"

"He's over there," Goku interjected, pointing to the right. The others stared at him for a moment.

"Right…" Vegeta then said thoughtfully. "Now I can feel it too. Shenlong's aura. He's indeed powerful. And not that far away."

"Aura?" Goku's eyebrows raised. "I just thought that a where's a humongous banana split, there's also a humongous dragon. My stomach's logic never lies."

"Let's just go," Haruka suggested with a sigh as the others were glaring at Goku.

The girl had seen a lot during her racing career but driving a plane down the shore of the Hell with spiky mountains to the right and empty cosmos to the left was really a challenge for her nerves. Though the Hell was usually crowded, nobody was to be seen on this lifeless beach. That part of the Afterworld was really depressing, even if quite interesting… until Goku, who was standing next to the windscreen, let out a cry.

"See? Over there! Whoa, look at the size of this thing!"

"So that's the eternal dragon we've been looking for?" Seiya asked, stepping up to the windscreen too.

"No, that's a banana split," Vegeta replied with a frown. "Shenlong is right behind it. Calm down already, Kakarot…!"

The beach was a bit wider in that place, the mountains were farther away and there was more room. And on the shore there he was – seven miles of dark green scaly body, curled up on several square kilometers, huge paws, though tiny compared to the body, scratching the ground, yellow gummy stomach shining in the light of whatever the Hell's source of light was.

One tiny correction: curled up on several square kilometers of a striped blanket.

Haruka landed the plane and got out, looking up at the gigantic dragon, or actually his equally gigantic sunglasses.

"Imagine the price of those things, eh?" Seiya commented, looking up too.

Shenlong grunted, moved his huge head a little, yawned widely, showing his set of sharp fangs and then quickly grabbed the glass of banana split that was the size of a house. Goku pouted and landed again.

"Mortals?" he asked then with vague surprise, peering at them over his sunglasses. "Didn't I clearly ask for some peace and quiet?"

Now the travellers noticed a bunch of ogres on the other side of Shenlong's big tail. They all seemed a bit nervous – but then again, ogres of the Afterworld usually seem nervous. Mainly because they _are_ nervous.

"We're only here for a minute," Taiki claimed, stepping up too.

"Though that mainly depends on you," Michiru added grimly.

Shenlong sipped the banana split and looked down again with a frown. "I'm the Eternal Dragon Shenlong, set to live forever in seven magical crystal balls and fulfill the wishes of anyone who manages to gather the balls together. Don't you think that I deserve a vacation once in a while?"

"Have you any idea what we've been through gathering those stupid crystal balls of yours?" Yaten demanded.

"If I started to make exceptions, I'd have to make them all the time and I do not want that," the dragon remarked.

"Not everyone would be able to force you to make an exception," Trunks replied.

Shenlong nodded. "Are you forcing me then?" he asked and his red eyes gleamed brightly for a second.

"Don't mind if I do," Vegeta grumbled, forming a bright blue fighting aura around him.

"Vegeta, he's fully able to turn you into a frog," Bulma warned.

"I'd still be able to kick his scaly hiney as a frog," the Saiyan prince replied with a scowl.

"Besides, it'd be an awfully bad pun," Haruka added, grinning vaguely. "Listen, Shenlong, we just want to go home. It wouldn't take you more than a minute, why do you need to be so picky?"

"Everything I do takes me a minute but it's tiring," the dragon remarked.

"What if we gave you something in return?" Hotaru asked.

Shenlong's huge head turned a little. Something glanced at the bottom of one red eye. "Really? You'd give me something in return? Me, the fulfill-my-wish-and-get-lost-dragon?"

"Of course," Hotaru smiled. "Just name it."

"Hey, but he's a magical dragon, is there anything he couldn't get by himmmmppfff," Trunks stammered as Bulma whacked him over the head very quickly.

"You see," the dragon explained at the same time, "I've always really wanted the Golden Crystal."

Haruka's, Michiru's and Hotaru's mouths fell open at the same time. The others seemed clueless.

"Sounds good to me, where do we get the crystal?" Goku asked, wiping his face. The huge glass of banana split was empty.

"Crack Pegasus's horn off and voila," Haruka replied grimly. "The Golden Crystal is the most important item in the world of dreams and thus also in our world, as the two cannot exist without one another." Her eyes narrowed as she looked up at the dragon. "Why would you need that crystal?"

"There's only one thing anyone besides Pegasus could do with the crystal," Michiru said with her eyes narrowing too. Her fists clenched and she slowly slid into a fighting pose, though there wasn't much she could do against that gigantic dragon.

Hotaru nodded and even if she didn't transform, the Silence Glaive appeared. The Saiyans and the Three Lights (plus Bulma) looked at them with concern.

"What gives?" Goku asked.

"The crystal is only good for taking the world of dreams over," Haruka grumbled. "Taking over, destroying and completely annihilating our world as well once things get that far."

"Sounds promising," Vegeta muttered, then looked up at the dragon. "Okay, speak! Why do you want that crystal?"


	36. There's no place like home

**Chapter 36 – There's no place like home**

The huge Eternal Dragon took his sunglasses off and looked at them thoughtfully. The fighters glared back at him, waiting for the answer to their question. Really, why would one of the most powerful creatures in the Universe want one of the most powerful items in the Universe?

"It's shiny," Shenlong declared.

There was complete silence for a short while.

"Dragons will be dragons," Taiki mumbled.

"You have _got _to be kidding me," Vegeta snarled. "Wouldn't you just go for, I dunno, a handful of glass beads or something?"

Shenlong seemed thoughtful. "Well, that'd be just as good but this better be one heck of a handful then."

Haruka, who had loosened and now seemed pretty clueless gazed at his gigantic paws. "As I understand this, we need to go on a scavenger hunt in order to get back home."

"So, does anyone know where to get a truckload of glass beads?" Goku asked, looking at the others. Michiru's ultramarine eyes seemed absent for a minute, then she looked up and said:

"Let's get on the plane. Haruka, take us to that little tavern."

"Planning to ask Sailor Pluto?" Hotaru wondered as the plane took off. Trunks and Goten waved frantically at the humongous dragon who put his sunglasses on again and waved back before lying down to sunbathe. Yaten muttered something about never knowing what he was saying the last time he said "now I've seen everything".

"If she's there, but I wouldn't bet my paintings on that," the girl replied. "I'm sure someone in that place can help us though. Taverns are always useful sources of information and this specific one, well, you have to agree that you'd expect to find just about everything there."

Haruka sighed. "I'll be really glad to get back to our normal everyday demon fighting again once we manage to get away from here."

"Aw come on, it's not that bad out here," Trunks claimed with a wide grin. "Having you guys around has been a blast! So much more fun than just everyday training and some occasional alien scum showing up!"

"Kid, your birth was the result of some alien scum showing up," Goku remarked.

"Don't push it, Kakarot," Vegeta warned him. The others tried to hold back laughter.

"Well, it's true, or what?" the Saiyan defended himself. "Don't disturb me now, I need to find some auras, otherwise it'll take us years to get to the tavern… great, I found Baba's! Hold on!"

The plane swished through an instant translocation and landed in front of the small tavern a few minutes later. Goku pushed the door open and slammed it straight into some small leprechaun's face.

"Watch it, you ape!" the midget yelled, rubbing his nose. "I'm fully able to replace your head with your hiney, wiseguy!"

"Whoa, I'm really sorry," Goku apologized, scratching his head sheepishly. "Didn't mean to, really."

"Oh yeah?" The leprechaun glared at him. "Have you any idea who I am? I'm warning you, mess with me and you'll regret it for the rest of your…"

"Put a sock in it," Vegeta snapped, passing Goku. "He said he was sorry, picking a fight any longer already means digging your own grave, halfling. Get lost and don't drink so much beer. Is that the green-haired woman we were looking for?"

"I don't see anyone else," Goku agreed, digging himself through the crowd to get to Sailor Pluto's and Baba's chess board. Vegeta tried to follow him but the angry leprechaun slammed his small sharp teeth into the prince's foot. The Saiyan threw him out of the window and went after Goku.

"Check," Baba chuckled by the time he got to the table. "You may be older than me but you're not smarter."

"You haven't won yet," Pluto replied calmly as usual. "Can I help you guys? What is it this time?"

"A truckload of glass beads," Goku announced.

The woman stared at him. "You're kidding, right?"

"Never been more serious," Haruka claimed, catching up with them. After hearing the story Sailor Pluto bit her lip, slowly shook her head and said:

"I can think of someone to help you but he won't be happy to, one thing certain."

"We're pretty desperate here, at least let us know who you're talking about, it's always worth trying," Seiya replied, rubbing his head – he had showed up while Haruka had been telling the story. "Who threw a leprechaun at me, bytheway?"

"Talk to King Kai," Sailor Pluto said, turning back to her chess game.

"Why him?" Goku asked with his eyes widening.

* * *

"You're saying that the little weirdo you lived with back when you were dead collects glass beads?" Bulma demanded. The plane was high above the yellow clouds and Vegeta was driving as Haruka had announced that she was now officially on strike.

"That's what Sailor Pluto told us," Goku agreed. "Maybe he'll be so nice and lend us some of his beads."

"Lend?" Vegeta asked over his shoulder. "That little lizard is far from giving the beads back once he gets them, or I know nothing about dragons in general."

"Have you ever seen any dragons beside Shenlong?" Taiki asked, looking up. He had been reading one of Goten's history books, for him it was far more interesting than for the kid.

The prince shrugged, causing the plane to fall for an eerie moment. "I go training in the mountains. That place has random dragons flying around once in a while."

"Yeah, I saw those sweet little cartoon-type meatballs," Taiki agreed. During their long journey many dragons had passed the windscreen but they were all the kind of dragons Gohan had ridden when he was younger – fat, friendly, with huge eyes and blunt claws. He had been wondering how those creatures managed to survive in the wilderness. "But I can't imagine them collecting treasure or something."

"I didn't mean them," Vegeta snorted. "Those critters would make good pets." Goku nodded at that. "There are many different types of dragons and the ones that live up in the rocky mountains are far from cuteness. Those are **real** dragons. Fangs, claws, fiery breath, huge piles of treasure, the whole set. And they live for their treasure, taking some away from them wouldn't end well, even for someone like me. They're very tough and their skin is almost unbreakable. To annihilate one, you must destroy it with one blast and that usually destroys its treasure as well. So I've never seen much point in hunting them. Where exactly is King Kai, Kakarot?"

"Should be on Dai Kaio's planet," Goku replied. "We oughtta be there in… okay, okay, I'll push it a little."

Dai Kaio's planet didn't help them though. Goku sneaked around in front of Dai Kaio's palace for a while and eventually found Paikuhan who was once again really glad to see him and said that King Kai had gone away for a few days. In business.

"Where to?" Goku had asked him. The reply made him stare – and the others too, once they heard the news.

"What's he doing down there?" Bulma asked when the plane skipped a few billion miles again.

"Paikuhan didn't know," Goku replied and sat down. "But he said that King Kai left for Hell every weekend and came back on Monday."

"Who is this King Kai?" Seiya asked. Goku scratched his head and then tried to explain as well as he could about the purpose of Kais, their job, appearance and characteristics.

"King Kai of the North is actually a really nice guy," he summed up, "just a bit weird from time to time."

"Anyone who regularly visits the Hell at weekends must be a real nutcase," Bulma remarked.

"We'll find it out soon enough because we're almost there," Vegeta said from the wheel. "Hold on, I'm landing."

"We've crossed lightyears today and ended up at the exactly same spot," Yaten grumbled, getting off the plane. "Where's that little nutcase then?"

"I can feel his aura," Goku replied, looking around. "He's near. Actually…" his eyes widened, "his aura is not the only familiar one I'm sensing. If I could now remember who…"

"Bad memory, Kakarot," Vegeta snarled, gazing at a huge tree nearby. "I recognized them right away. Let's go and greet them, shall we?"

There was a poker table standing in the shade of the tree. The uttermost villains the Universe has even known had gathered around it, all completely lost in the intense game. One of the players didn't seem that fierce of powerful though. He was quite fat, had a blue skin and small round sunglasses.

"King Kai!" Goku shouted, going closer. King Kai looked up in surprise and so did the others.

"Would you look at that, if it isn't Goku," Freeza snarled, putting the cards down. "Long time no see."

"Not that long," Goku grunted back. The others caught up and looked at the company with vague curiosity.

"What are you doing here, King Kai?" the Saiyan asked, being a lot more than just vaguely curious.

"I'm a member of Freeza's poker club," King Kai announced.

A little bird chirped in the tree. It had three eyes and it was blood red but it was still a little bird.

"Uhuh?" Goku managed to get out after some silence.

"I thought it was some villains-only club thing," Vegeta remarked.

"Generally, but everyone who's willing to pay the entrance fee is free to join," Cell explained.

"And bureaucrats are evil," Jeice added. "Everyone knows that."

"Too true," Bulma agreed.

"So… King Kai… we need a little help," Goku said after some hesitation.

"Hurry up then, I was about to win here," King Kai grunted. Goku took a deep breath and then announced what they were after. Freeza's poker club gave a group stare. The little bird in the tree hushed and tried to sneak away very quietly.

"Have you LOST it?" King Kai yelled. "I'm NOT giving away my glass bead collection as long as I LIVE!"

"What if we gave you something in return?" Haruka asked with a frown. Freeza and the gang glanced at King Kai suspiciously. Nobody who has the power, even if theoretical power to send residents of Hell off to the Sea of Void to bring banana splits to Shenlong shouldn't be angered just like that.

"Whadda you got to offer?" Trunks asked her. "If we had something equally valuable, we could've just offered it to Shenlong!"

"I may have something," Seiya said slowly, digging in his pockets. "But note that, I'm not giving them away too happily and I wouldn't do it at all if it didn't help me to get back to Earth."

King Kai gazed at him suspiciously. "Whatcha talking about?"

Seiya scanned through another three pockets and finally found what he had been looking for. He reached out his hand, showing the item to King Kai – a pair of black, smooth, shiny and ultra-cool-shaped sunglasses.

King Kai's eyes widened. "Are you serious? For me? These… are too… _cool_!" He grabbed the glasses and put them on, throwing Seiya a pair of keys. "Over there, next to the blood pond. How do I look, eh?"

Seiya tried to figure out what just had happened as Goku grinned unconfidently and muttered something like "uhuh, pretty cool". Vegeta glanced towards the blood pond King Kai had pointed at while the new owner of the glasses turned back to the table, shining with satisfaction.

"Give me the keys," he said then, starting towards the pond.

"Aren't you going to beat Freeza and the gang up?" Trunks asked curiously, following him.

"Maybe later," his father grunted. "Right now I'm too hungry. Should've grabbed some cheese sticks at that tavern."

"That cheese was green," Michiru remarked, going after the others.

"Ripe in that case," the prince said. "Okay, who feels like driving for a couple of million miles?"

There was an old truck standing next to the pond. It had obviously seen better days and it was loaded with a huge pile of glass beads glittering in the sun. There was a crooked Mercedes badge taped on the radiator of the truck. Taiki's eyebrow twitched.

"Okay, this is getting absurd."

"Naw," Haruka claimed, "once someone's as old as that dude there and spent most of his life collecting those beads, a truckload is the least you'd expect. Looks like it's ours now. And I'm still not driving."

"We wouldn't all fit there one way or another," Hotaru remarked. "Is there enough room in the plane?"

Bulma calculated a little. "If we all curl up and try not to move while travelling… this just might work out."

"Come on, Kakarot. Do something useful for a change," Vegeta called, opening the plane's door and then lifting the vehicle up. "Pour it in."

There was a merry rattle when a few tons of glass beads slid from the truck into the plane. Trunks and Goten whizzed around, catching the beads that missed the door. Eventually it turned out that there was not much room for everyone else once the beads had been replaced.

"We'll just have to squeeze ourselves in somehow," Michiru grunted, glaring at the door. "A few broken beads won't reduce their shininess, come on!"

The experience was rather annoying as the cold beads slipped under their clothes and also in their mouths when they opened them so they just tried to bear it as well as they could while Vegeta took the plane off. Goku used his little trick and they didn't have to suffer for more than five minutes altogether when the plane already bumped into the hard ground next to the Sea of Void.

Shenlong glanced at them over his sunglasses. "You again? I hope you come with a reason."

"Yeah," Goku snarled, spitting out a few beads and peering at the refilled glass of banana split, "we got a truckload of shiny beads for you. Will you take our friends home now?"

"Really?" Shenlong leaned over excitedly, turned the plane upside down and grabbed the glass beads. "This is great! Thank you!" He pulled his gigantic claws through the pile of beads and purred with joy. "Even better than the Golden Crystal!"

"I'm glad you see it that way," Haruka remarked, thinking of the, well, hell that would've broken loose if Shenlong had preferred quality over quantity. "Can we go home now?"

The dragon sat up. "Yeah, I guess so. How many of you and where to?"

The Outer Scouts and the Three Lights stepped up. "The six of us and to planet Earth where we come from," Haruka declared. "And don't even try to bend some words and make something funny!"

Shenlong nodded. "Fine. So be it." He took his sunglasses off – most likely because of the impression – and his eyes started gleaming. "Need a moment of goodbye?"

"Wow, he usually doesn't do that," Goku commented, raising his brows. "Looks like he really loved the beads."

"Well, guess this really is goodbye," Michiru said, turning around. "We'll miss you guys."

"We'll miss you too," Bulma nodded softly.

"We can visit you any time though if we feel like it," Goku added with a grin. The others glanced at him.

"We can?" Trunks asked.

"Yeah, now I know their aura," the Saiyan explained. "Unless another magnetic storm appears, I'll be able to track them down on their planet. Until now I didn't know any auras on their planet, I had nobody to find."

"Cool!" Trunks exclaimed. "Then we can visit you guys when things get boring around here, right?"

Haruka nodded with a smile. "Right. You can always come. Just don't expect a feast or something when you don't tell in advance. We're always on the run and don't keep the fridge stuffed." Something cracked in her voice, there was a small flicker in her eyes but she hid it quickly, looking up at the dragon.

"Let's go."

Shenlong's eyes flashed. The six scouts felt a tingle in their spines, the landscape in front of their eyes started swirling and for a moment they felt dizzy. Then all of a sudden everything went clear again. And on that same second they were soaking wet.

"Well, that was fun," Yaten remarked, looking around. "Drat, it's still raining?"

"Has it been raining _all_ the time we were gone?" Michiru asked in surprise. The weather looked exactly as it had looked like when they left. "What happened, has the whole Pacific Ocean vaporized or something?"

"How long were we actually away?" Seiya asked, looking up at the sky that was pouring down on his face. "I lost track on days ages ago."

"Some manager will remind it to you soon enough," Haruka predicted. "Come on, you two, let's get inside." She went to the front door and stopped. "Michiru… who has the key?"

Michiru blinked. "Must be inside… on the table. I asked Setsuna to lock the door and it looks like she used the Garmet Orb."

Haruka shrugged and kicked the door open. "The lock was old anyway. Hotaru, get inside before you catch a cold."

Michiru laughed and waved at the Three Lights who were now walking away in the rain. "Bye, you three!"

* * *

"Just look at that weather!"

It was the afternoon of the next day. Haruka and Michiru were sitting by a small table in a cozy open-air café. The air was warm, the sky was blue and the birds were singing like crazy. The rain had finally stopped.

"That unwanted vacation was actually quite nice," Michiru said with a smile, "but I'm glad to be back home." She sipped a little from her coffee cup.

Haruka nodded. "It looks like the place didn't get blown up after all. I wonder what happened to all our enemies."

"Haruka! Michiru!" Usagi and her friends stopped behind the hedge that was separating the table from the pavement. "We haven't seen you in a while!"

"Yeah," Haruka smiled, putting her coffee cup down, "we were away for a while. How were things when we were gone?"

"Kinda quiet," Rei replied. "No demons or other enemies in sight. Must've been because of that rain. Who would want to fight in such rain anyway?"

"Where are the Saiyans?" Makoto asked. "They were staying at your place, weren't they?"

"They went back home," Michiru said. The girls turned sad. "Don't worry, I have a feeling that we'll see them again. After all, there are so many ways to travel between planets."

"Hey look!" Minako suddenly shouted. "The Three Lights!" The three guys were really coming down the street.

"Heya all," they greeted the girls, stopping by them. Haruka turned her head away and sipped from her coffee cup.

"Where were you all that time?" Minako instantly demanded. "I've been worried sick!"

The guys laughed. "That's nice of you," Yaten said, "but we were just having some time off."

"You always said you couldn't afford it," Usagi said in surprise.

Seiya nodded. "True, but we had some… unexpected things to deal with." He looked at the two girls behind the table. "Say Haruka…"

Haruka didn't even move her head. "Yeah?"

"Once they come here again, will you let us know?" the guy asked. The Inner Scouts blinked in confusion.

Haruka seemed thoughtful. "If you're still around by that time… I guess I could do that." Now she looked up and an echo of a smile actually slid over her face. "By the way, Yaten, what did you do with your feather?"

"Feather?" Usagi asked as Yaten dug in his pockets and eventually pulled the phoenix feather out. "Right here, looks like it's almost unbreakable. Doesn't look scruffy or anything. I wonder what it could do when used with some knowledge…" Usagi and friends blinked and stared at the glittering feather that was now waving in the wind.

Haruka finished her coffee and stood up. "Hang it in front of a speaker on your next concert and see what happens. Let's go, Michiru."

"What was that about?" Ami asked as the two left down the street.

"Nothing special…" Seiya mumbled, looking at his watch. "Whoa guys, we have to run! See you girls around!" The three hurried off.

"I wonder what happens when another ambitious nightmare shows up," Michiru said thoughtfully. Her hair waved in the wind as Haruka's yellow convertible headed towards home. The heavenly flower bouquet was hanging on the rear-view mirror.

Haruka smiled. "Then we'll defeat it. Without a single doubt."

**The E…**

Bulma: "Or actually The Flashback to yesterday by the Sea of Void."

_Wha?_

Bulma: "You have some unfinished things here, m'dear. The story isn't done yet."

_-eyebrow twitches- Gimme a break… I've been writing this for more than a year!_

Bulma: "Then another chapter won't kill you. Vegeta, remember your promise?"

Vegeta: "Wha?"

Bulma: "You promised to take me shopping to Hell, remember?"

Trunks: "Yeah, and you were supposed to beat Freeza and the guys up on your way back!"

Vegeta: -eyebrow twitches- "You have got to be kidding me…"

Bulma: "Promises are promises, honey."

Vegeta: "Ugh, fine. Just don't call me honey."

_Author's Note: dung. This story isn't letting go of me. Ahwell, guess one final hysterically absurd chapter won't kill me… _


	37. Gone Shopping

**Last Chapter – Gone Shopping**

"Well, that was fun," Goku remarked, looking at the empty spot that had been a bunch of Sailor Soldiers some short time ago.

"They were really cool," Trunks added mournfully. "I had gotten so used to them… maybe we could go there next Christmas, eh?"

"Have mercy on Haruka," Bulma grinned. "Okay, Vegeta…"

"You're driving in that case," Vegeta snapped.

Shenlong glanced at them with a vague frown. "I don't care who's driving or where you're going, just get lost and let me finally enjoy my vacation!" He turned back to his new beads and the Saiyans got on the plane.

"It's empty in here," Goten muttered.

"Yeah, thank heavens," Vegeta agreed, stretching his legs. "This place isn't really meant for a huge girl gang. I need my training again… and my daily routine."

"Don't tell me that it wasn't nice to have these aliens around," Bulma said with a smile. "Everyone needs a change once in a while, I'd say that they got theirs and we got ours too, don't you think?"

"They sure got their change," Goku agreed, "bringing us their demons and all…"

"You're the one who brought them here, Kakarot," Vegeta remarked a bit cynically. "Use that technique of yours already, the sooner we get this over with, the better."

"Don't you like shopping?" Goku asked, concentrating.

"Do you?" the Saiyan prince glared at him.

"Well, it's pretty much fun, considering that you get all the yummy food you want and there's nothing like the marshmallows they sell in that little grocery store in Satan City," Goku remembered. Bulma steered the plane down and Vegeta leaned forward to look out of the window. His face turned grim. Okay, grimmer than usually.

"That thing over there isn't a little grocery store," he said.

There was a building that stretched out in front of them, reaching far and wide over the landscape. A city would've fit in there, maybe not in height but still in width. Trunks and Goten pushed their noses flat against the windscreen.

"This is too **cool**!" they both stated.

Vegeta's eyes narrowed. "It's a shopping center. Shopping centers are most definitely not cool."

"This thing must cover a hundred square miles easy!" Bulma exclaimed. Vegeta recognized the frantic gleam in her eyes and sighed.

"About fifteen if I remember correctly but one can always manipulate with dimensions here. Careful with the plane, you'll crash it if your hands don't stop shaking like that. Not that I'd worry much about myself but you're the only human here."

"Then she'd die, land here and could spend the whole eternity shopping like crazy," Trunks remarked.

"She goes to Heaven when she dies and that place has no shopping centers," his father replied with a somewhat mean grin.

Bulma nodded. "Exactly, and that's why I need to use the chance while I can." The plane bumped against the ground and jerked on for a couple of feet. By the time the Saiyans struggled out of the plane, the woman had already galloped down the square and was now standing in front of a huge blood-red building that read "Hell Mall". Her eyes were shining.

"What's with women and shopping?" Goku asked the Universe in general. "We need food and clothes and furniture too but we always manage to get them without having to spend two days between the aisles."

"I asked Michiru that," Trunks said, following his mother who was now slowly going towards the huge front door like a zombie, still gazing up at the walls and the neon sign. "She said that shopping wasn't just going to a shop and buying something, but a culture and a way to reduce stress, see people, get information about latest designs, get ideas and keep up with the world." He frowned at the mall. "Haruka said that shopping only increased stress and there were plenty of far more effective ways to get ideas and information. Gotta agree with her."

The mall door was guarded by two huge ogres that looked more like trolls and the doors themselves looked like church gates. Something was written on them and Vegeta looked up to read them as the others glanced at Bulma's disappearing back with concern.

""Enter and you may never return"," the Saiyan read out loud. ""This place is cursed", "The Hell never forgives", there's something unreadable, oh yeah, should be "Be warned", "Be careful" and "Discount in aisle 2363"."

"Does it mean that whoever enters this mall becomes obsessed?" Trunks asked curiously.

"Every mall in this Universe obsesses people," his father remarked and looked inside at the countless aisles that disappeared into a haze farther away. "I think these here are supposed to warn possible pickpockets." He shrugged and looked inside again. "We'd better go and find that woman before she gets lost in there forever."

The mall was simply huge. Bulma was nowhere to be seen but her aura was close and the four warriors went down the aisles, looking around curiously. In their top ten of favorite activities, shopping was number 35 or so but one doesn't get a chance to visit the Hell's Mall every day so they still found it interesting. For their surprise the place was crowded.

"Ohmygod, look at that!" a voice squeaked nearby. It was the spirit of a blonde girl in a red dress, showing a bottle of shampoo to a friend. "They don't like even make these anymore!"

"Like you need it now," Goku commented more to himself, looking around. "Wow, is this where all the dead spirits of the Hell spend their time?

"At least all the dead female spirits," Vegeta agreed. "Whoever built this place didn't really think of the meaning of the word "Hell"…"

"I think whoever built this place was female," Goten guessed. Trunks nodded in agreement and gazed into the next aisle. "Mom's over there."

Bulma was standing in front of a humongous display of clothes, pulling one dress after another out of the row.

"There you are!" she shouted as the fighters came closer. "They even have real Eastern Capital silk, you know!"

"Ohdear," Goku muttered. "This is serious."

"Can't we just leave now and pick her up later?" Trunks pleaded.

Vegeta seemed thoughtful. "Well, it's been a whi… hold on, kid, who's going to cook us dinner then?"

Trunks's eyebrow twitched. "Maybe we can move in to Goku's?"

"Who's going to feed her when she's in here for days?" Goten asked as his father tried to figure out a way to tell Vegeta and Trunks that Chichi wouldn't be too thrilled about having four Saiyan warriors in the house. All the ways he could think of promised to result in horrible pain.

Vegeta grunted. This was really not in his line. "She has enough money, right? She can buy some food when she gets hungry and knock herself out as long as she wants to."

"I don't think they accept credit cards here, does she have cash?" Goku asked a bit nervously. _Chichi is going to be pretty mad, ohyeah…_

"Dad, she'll just go nuts in here if we don't get her out soon," Trunks said with a frown, pointing to his mother who was now almost unseen under a huge pile of clothes. She was moving farther down the aisle, pulling out more and more clothes to try on and humming some happy little melody.

"Nah, she's always like that when she goes shopping," Vegeta grumbled, quietly enough though. The Hell was filled with his former enemies and if there's one thing you don't want your enemies to know, it's the fact that every once in a while your wife forces you to go on a happy little six-hour shopping trip through the city.

"But this isn't Western Capital's Central Mall," the kid complained. "This is fifty times as big! We can't possibly wait here until she's done! That'll take years!"

Vegeta and Goku exchanged quick glances. They had both been married – or, in Vegeta's case, at least had a wife and kids – for quite a while now. Even if the relationships weren't exactly normal, the everyday problems of a family man weren't new to them. Dragging your wife away from shopping using force usually causes… problems.

"We could tell her that there's an ever bigger mall nearby," Goku suggested.

"Tried that many times," the Saiyan prince grumbled. "She'll just say that she'd get there as soon as she's done here."

"Or we could grab her and run off," Goten said. "She's a human. She couldn't fight us."

Trunks and Vegeta gave him a quick glance. "Yeah, all she **could** do is to nag, pout, cry, yell, pout some more and finally make us starve for a few weeks."

"Order some takeout and buy earmuffs," Goku suggested with a grin. "Okay, okay, easy there… we need a plan, guys."

The four Saiyans sat down. After coming up with several interesting yet useless, brainless or just plain stupid ideas, they developed them into plans A, B and after some hesitation C.

"Plan C only goes when all else fails, got it?" Vegeta warned them. "This is highly dangerous. I'd rather take weeks of nagging than risk with something like _that_."

The others nodded and Trunks sighed when he trotted towards his mother to start plan A. Bulma had gotten very far now and by the time the kid got there, he had surprisingly changed. His face was red and sweaty, his eyes were gleaming and he could hardly keep himself up.

"Mom," he complained, dragging himself closer. "Mom!"

"Trunks?" Bulma asked back, turning her head a little before spotting another pretty outfit.

"I think I've gotten Hell Fever, mom," the brat said. "Dad said that it was pretty common around here if you're not used to the climate. I feel so… funny."

"He's not much of an actor," Goku whispered to Vegeta. The three were peering at the scene behind a shelf of shoes.

"Even if he was, it wouldn't work out," Vegeta hissed back. "I know that woman. Watch…"

Bulma had crouched down and touched her son's forehead. It was steaming hot. No wonder – if a Saiyan can produce enough heat to form a fighting aura, some extra degrees for a fever are no problem whatsoever. Bulma's eyes narrowed for a bit, then she smiled.

"Good news, Trunks. This is no Hell Fever." Now her smile turned into a grin. "This is your I Have A Test Today And I Didn't Study Fever. Don't you think a mother can't make a difference? Have some patience, I won't take long, okay?" She turned back to the shelf and Trunks plodded back to the others with a sheepish grin.

"Told you," Vegeta grunted to Goku. "She raised that brat, for crying out loud. And if you," he smacked Trunks, "hadn't used that trick for so many times, it would've worked now!"

"Plan B then," Goku muttered, stood up and gazed at the others. "Don't you still think it's a little drastic?"

Vegeta's eyebrow twitched. "Kakarot…" He stood up too and together they raised their arms, aimed for the roof far above them and shot out several aura bombs that hit the roof, causing a powerful, yet somehow muffled explosion. Flames spread out over the roof and then faded away, leaving the ceiling completely unharmed.

"Dimensions," Goku said, sitting down again. "Okay then… now what?"

"I thought the letter B was followed by C?" Goten asked with a frown.

"Do we really have to do that?" Goku seemed a bit nervous. "I mean, we don't know what may happen… everything in here is almost unreal and trying something like that…"

Vegeta glanced at his wife who had gotten farther now. "Only one way to find out. You know what to do?" The others nodded, Goku sighed and they all dashed off.

* * *

Bulma had never been happier. She tried the clothes on, threw the ones she loved into the cart, added the ones that didn't look good on her but were still made of fabulous materials and eventually decided that she'd take them all. The woman pushed the cart down the isle and turned to look at the cosmetics when she suddenly bumped into someone.

"Oh, excuse me, I didn't see where I was… hey, it's you." Goku smiled back at her and gave a quick glance towards the loaded cart. "Having fun?"

"Yeah, this place is pretty cool," the Saiyan replied – quietly enough though, he also had enemies in Hell and that variety of purple lipsticks on a nearby shelf sure looked like Freeza's personal supply. "Did you see the discount in aisle 243 already? They had some jewelry there, confiscated as I understood, now they're trying to get rid of that stuff…"

"Jewelry?" Bulma raced off with the cart. Goku followed her and by the time they got to aisle 243, he seriously had to admire Bulma's endurance. The aisle only had soaps and shampoos.

"I don't see jewelry," Bulma glared at the Saiyan.

"Behind that door," Goku pointed to a small door between two aisles. "You can't keep precious jewelry on display in front of billions of former criminals, right? People land in Hell for a…"

Bulma closed the door behind her. "Hey, it's dark in he…" BONK! There was a muffled "crack" and then the aisle was quiet again.

"Reason," Goku finished more to himself, looked around, made sure that nobody was watching and placed a sign that read "JANITOR" onto the door again. He searched through his pockets, took out four little nails, attached the sign and then walked off, humming quietly. He entered the plane about fifteen minutes later.

"Took you long enough," Vegeta grumbled, starting the plane. Bulma lied on the seat, completely unconscious. Her shopping cart was standing in the middle of the floor, still filled with clothes. Goku gazed at it with concern as the vehicle took off.

"I _did_ tell you guys what might happen, right?" he asked a bit nervously.

"We'll just risk it," the Saiyan prince replied, aiming for the yellow clouds. "Do your trick now."

Goku frowned, nodded and concentrated. Something flashed in front of their eyes and the plane was suddenly gone, showing up somewhere else, far far away from the Hell.

"Did it work?" Goten asked, keeping his eyes shut tightly.

"Eh…" Trunks peered out between his palms. "Eh… I… think so!"

The shopping cart was still standing in the middle of the floor, still filled with clothes. Its sides had partly melted and it was bent into a shape that looked like a crossbred of a pyramid and the Statue of Liberty. But it was still there.

Bulma's eyes slid open. "What the… where… OW! Who hit me?" She sat up, glaring around. Vegeta was driving, the other three were gazing at her a bit nervously and the main building of the Capsule Corporation was closing in behind the windscreen.

"Just be happy that the Hell's dimensions didn't turn those clothes into something semi-transparent and very murderous," Vegeta remarked, landing the plane. "Taking something out of the Afterworld is easy, but taking out something that has been brought **in** there centuries ago and with a very high price, I believe, may cause very big problems. Luckily the cart seems to have taken most of the damage."

Bulma's eyes went big as she stared at them all. "You risked with something like that just to make me happy?"

"Just to spare our nerves," Vegeta replied, getting up.

"There's still a possibility of hidden powers in those clothes," Goku warned them all, stepping to the door that now slid open, letting them all breathe good old Western Capital almost-clean air. It's always good to come back home…

"Sailor Pluto will take care of that," the Saiyan prince said, pushing the cart out of the plane. "I can sense her aura in our kitchen. She's most likely not thrilled because of our dimension-bending but I suppose we can talk ourselves out of this."

"Ooh, those clothes are so great!" Bulma leaped out too and hugged her husband. "Thank you! And thank you too, guys!"

"I'll take them back if you don't let me go _now_," Vegeta grumbled, looking up at the house that was now his home. Indeed, it's good to be home. The weather was gorgeous and the sounds of a typical workday on the streets were to be heard behind the wall. And somewhere in that house there's a gravity training chamber waiting for him…

"Let's get inside already," he said.

**The End**

_Author's Note: whoa. You read this far?198 pages in Microsoft Word? Or even this last chapter? Well, congrats for your patience. Took me a year to write this monster but now it's done, and all comments are very appreciated. I'm not planning to write any sequels… yet. I'm not even sure when or if I'll start with a new fanfic. But nothing's impossible when in comes to me. Thanks for your time, hope you enjoyed at least some parts of it._


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